The call for the award was made by ECORED, with the support of CEPM and CESPM, Interenergy companies in the country
SANTO DOMINGO.– The Red Nacional de Apoyo Empresarial al Medioambiente (ECORED), together with the Consorcio Energético Punta Cana – Macao (CEPM) and the Compañía de Electricidad de San Pedro de Macorís (CESPM) announced Tuesday, July 19th the winners of the first call of the Award for Environmental Journalism, 2015-2016 edition.
Journalists Mariela Mejía and Marvin del Cid, from newspaper Diario Libre, were awarded first place for the story “Sea Cucumber, Rare Species that Trade Threats” published on October 5th, 2015. The second place was awarded to journalist Windler Soto, from El Dinero, for the series “Climate Change, Silent Threat to the Tourism Sector” published between November 23rd and December 14th, 2015. While the third place went to the journalist Lilian Tejeda, from Listín Diario, for the series of articles on climate change published between October 1st, 2015 and February 4th, 2016.
The winners received cash prizes of RD$200,000, RD$100,000 and RD $50,000 for the first, second and third, respectively.
For the first edition of the contest the only categories that participated were print and digital media. The call was open until March 15, 2016 and journalist with published articles between January 1st, 2015 and March 15, 2016 were able to participate.
During the ceremony, the president of ECORED and representative of the sponsors of the award, Roberto Herrera, said: “We want to highlight the efforts of the members of the press, which is why we are proud to announce the winners of the 1st Award for Environmental Journalism, which aims to encourage the practice of environmental journalism and the importance of sustainability. ”
Speaking on behalf of ECORED, Maria Alicia Urbaneja, thanked the jury the support offered to the first edition of the Award for Environmental Journalism. She noted that the jury was composed of Elvira Lora, journalist and director of the career of Social Communication at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM); Omar Ramírez, executive vice president of the National Council for Climate Change and the Clean Development Mechanism; and Sixto Incháuestegui, member of the Board of Directors of the Jaragua Group, an NGO dedicated to contribute to the sustainable management of biodiversity.
