AWARDS / JOURNALISM
The 2021 “RFI Report in Spanish” Award is aimed at journalism students under the age of 30 who are studying in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“Cuerpos sin patria” is a highly emotional report about the burial of hundreds of anonymous Venezuelan migrants who have died crossing the border between Venezuela and Colombia.
Alejandra Parra Morales
The Venezuelan Alejandra Parra Morales, a 24-year-old student at the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, won the seventh edition of the Award with “Cuerpos sin patria”, a highly emotional report about the work of an NGO that buries hundreds of migrants Anonymous Venezuelans who have died crossing the border between Venezuela and Colombia, or have been killed by human traffickers and criminal gangs.
The members of the jury chose her report for the investigative work in a high-risk area, with exceptional and first-hand sources, for the excellent and documented narration, as well as for the adequate journalistic distance that was provided.
The jury appreciated that, despite the pandemic and movement restrictions, the student carried out a true field mission in a remote part of Colombia.
The award consists of a four-week internship at RFI’s Spanish-language writing team in Paris, fully funded. The report was broadcast last Thursday, June 10 at 4:00 p.m. in Paris, on the “Paris America” program. An excerpt was also broadcast on RFI in French in the program “Journal d’Haïti et des Amériques”. The winner has a space with an interview by France 24 in Spanish, whose newsroom is in Bogotá.
The jury has also decided to award a special mention to the report “El albergue final de tus residuos”, by the Mexican Crista Arredondo Casillas, from the University of Guadalajara. It is about a sound immersion with those who collect waste and garbage in Jalisco, during the pandemic, which leads us to know the risks to which they are exposed.
