Saturday was celebrated as World Press Freedom Day and it was observed in Belize with the third awarding of the University of Belize Prize For Investigative Journalism. It's Belizean journalism's richest and most prestigious prize. We might hasten to add that it is the only such prize.
That meant stakes were high. 7 News, News 5 and Amandala were this year's finalists. Who won? Here are the highlights:
Nominees for the prize were Marco Lopez from Amandala with his story "Code Red In The Blue", the team from 7 news with A Night Of Terror At Sich, and Channel 5's Paul Lopez and his team with Operations at Caribi Bleu Casino.
At the end of it, the $10,000 dollar first prize was awarded - for the first time - to a print journalist. Amandala's Marco Lopez said that the process of putting this story together was a huge uphill battle, but he persisted nevertheless.
Marco Lopez, 1st Place Winner, Prize for Investigative Journalism Awards
"Because it was a fight, take no doubt of that it was a fight because I felt the intention of the administration was to directly attack my credibility as a journalist and in doing that, attack my bread, attack how I sustain myself and my family you understand so by all means we had to bear arms as my friend, the dean of the press corps, Jules, sir, we cannot capitulate to these people when they attack us because our work is not about shining or being a star, our work is about protecting and safeguarding our nation state, our Belize, you know? And what is more beautiful and sexy than the Belizean blue? Nothing! So, that's why I chose to protect that, that's why I chose to fight for our blue, our Belizean blue, you know?"
Jules Vasquez and Paul Lopez were both finalists, and the keynote speaker, CNN's Belize born and raised Evan Perez said that the award itself is an important way to fuel the growth of journalism in Belize.
Evan Perez, CNN Senior Justice Correspondent
"It has never been more important to do the work that you are doing and that we are doing all over the world. It's obviously very clear that we are living in very challenging times, not only in Belize but also here in the United States."
"I applaud the journalists who contributed all those pieces and I want to say that you know the clouds are pretty dark right now, but that just means we have more work to do to shine a light on what's going on in the world and I want to thank you again for inviting me and hope, I hope that I get to see more of this work. I'll keep an eye out for more of these pieces in the coming year."
Lopez's article, "Code Red in Belize's Blue," showed that 17 commercial fish species are overexploited in Belize waters - and you can find a link to it at 7newsbelize.com.
https://amandala.com.bz/news/code-red-in-the-blue/
The sponsors and supporters of the prize are The University of Belize, The Embassy of The Republic of China (Taiwan), The Big Creek Group
And a donor who funded the $10,000 prize in honor of Ebenezer Barrow.
The judges were:
- Jacqueline Charles - the Caribbean Correspondent for the Miami Herald
- Eyder Peralta - International Correspondent (based in Mexico City) for NPR
- Kalilah Reynolds (Belizean judge) - Creator and Executive Producer of Taking
Stock (based in Jamaica) and
- Freeman Rogers - Editor, British Virgin Islands Beacon.
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