Pedro Simón and Alberto di Lolli (El Mundo), Gerardo Reyes (Univision Noticias), the activist José Palazón, and Teodoro Petkoff win the Ortega y Gasset Awards for Journalism 2015

The thirty-second edition of the Ortega y Gasset Awards for Journalism have highlighted lesser-known examples of the squandering of public resources in Spain, a report on organized crime’s involvement in illegal mining, inequality captured in the image of a fence, and democratic resistance in Venezuela.

The Ortega y Gasset Awards 2015, awarded by the newspaper El Pais to the best works of journalism in Spanish, this year went unanimously, in the category of Print Journalism, to Pedro Simón and Alberto di Lolli for their series of reports,  La España del despilfarro (Squandering in Spain) published in El Mundo. The jury lauded "the novel approach to a recurring theme. They are reports that lay bare yet another level of wastefulness. The series of reports does not repeat facts that are already well known, but rather, reveals to the reader what are seemingly minor cases within the larger story of the squandering of public resources in Spain in recent years. The author also makes use of engaging  language and great narrative rhythm ".

In this same category, the jury made a special mention of the story  El hombre que eligió el bosque y lo asesinaron (The man who chose the forest and was killed), by Joseph Zárate Salazar, published in the magazine Etiqueta Verde.

The prize in the category of Digital Journalism went to the special report  Losnuevos narcotesoros (The New Narco Treasurers) by Gerardo Reyes and published by Univision Noticias. The jury praised the news value of this piece which details how organized crime in Latin America has tapped a new source of income in illegal mining. "It's a great story that stands out for what it tells and for how it tells it. Some of the testimonies in the piece are breathtaking for their sheer audacity and illustrate the widespread and almost banal use of violence in social conflicts on the continent ".

In this same  category, the jury was eager to pay special tribute to Angelo Attanasio and Jerónimo Giorgi for their special report Derribando el muro digital (Tearing down the digital wall), published in El Periódico de Catalunya.

In the category of Photojournalism, the winner was José Palazón, an activist with Prodein, for his photograph of the Melilla border fence that shows a number immigrants trying to jump the fence while others play golf. Jurors said that it is a photograph that "breaks the usual structure of images that have been published to date on this subject. It is very informative and reflects the enormous distance, both economic and social as well as in terms of expectations, between two worlds, the first and third, that are otherwise so close geographically."

The jury has also made a special mention of the work of Samuel Aranda, for his series of photographs on the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone.

The jury voted unanimously to award the prize for a Lifetime Dedicated to Journalism to Teodoro Petkoff, editor of the newspaper Tal Cual. The jury praised "the extraordinary personal journey that has taken him from his beginnings as a guerrilla to become a symbol of democratic resistance through the newspaper that he oversees".

The jury was formed by Carles Francino, director of La Cadena Ser’s La Ventana, Félix de Azúa, writer; Carmen Iglesias, director of the Royal Academy of History; Ainhoa Grandes, director of the MACBA Foundation; Juan Luis Cebrián, executive president of EL PAÍS; Javier Moreno, editorial director of PRISA, and Antonio Caño, editor-in-chief  of El País. Pedro Zuazua, communications director of PRISA NOTICIAS, acted as jury secretary without a vote.

The Ortega y Gasset Prizes for Journalism were created in 1984 by the newspaper El País, and are named after the Spanish philosopher and journalist José Ortega y Gasset. The prizes honor work published in Spanish worldwide, recognizing, in particular, work that champions human rights, independence, rigor, curiosity and passion: in short all the hallmarks of excellent journalism.

The awards are open to written or graphic work published in Spanish-language newspapers or magazines worldwide. Each award is worth 15,000 euros in prize money and is accompanied by a work by sculptor Eduardo Chillida.

The awards will be presented on Wednesday, May 6, at CaixaForum Madrid.