The Varela Awards for Journalism will award up to $40,000 dollars in cash prices.
PHILADELPHIA – The Félix Varela Awards for Excellence in American Journalism, the awards established 4 years ago by the AL DIA Foundation, will be, for 2012, also a celebration of one of the pillars of the US Constitution, the First Amendment.
The Varela Awards will recognize the best feature writing, best blogging, best documentary, and best photojournalism on Latino and Multicultural Issues in America.
The VARELA Awards, offers the largest cash prize in its category, giving $10,000 per award, along with a golden medal of Father Félix Varela, an American intellectual of Latino origin who had a great impact on 19th Century America.
The announcement was made at Temple University’s School of Communications and Theater in Philadelphia, PA, by the Chairman of the AL DIA Foundation, Hernán Guaracao, and Temple University School of Communication and Theater’s Interim Dean,Thomas Jacobson. They officially opened the competition, calling for submissions between now and August 2012.
The Awards honor the legacy of Father Varela, who published, in the City of Philadelphia, one of the first Spanish-language newspapers in the U.S.
Members of the jury panel include Zita Arocha, professor of multi-media Journalism at the University of Texas at El Paso; Emilio Sánchez, President and CEO at VOXXI; Albor Ruiz, columnist of the New York Daily News; and Linn Washington, professor of Journalism at Temple University.
For more information, visit www.felixvarelaaward.com.
