PRINT – Investigative News
Luis Fabregas & Andrew Conte, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review – “Transplanting Too Soon”

The investigation showed that hundreds of people undergo liver transplants each year when they don’t – and might never – need them, a series with immediate impact and that undoubtedly saved lives. The analysis of national medical data raised fundamental questions about the multibillion dollar transplantation market, and six months after it was published, transplants into the least-ill patients dropped by more than a third nationwide. The United Network for Organ sharing proposed new rules to ensure the sickest patients have a greater chance of receiving a healthy liver. Judges called the series that revealed how an unregulated system driven by profits cuts short patients lives a great example of watchdog journalism. The stories are an easy read about a complex issue and used human faces to tell the story.

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PRINT –Feature
Frederick Melo, reporter & Brandi Jade Thomas, photographer, St. Paul Pioneer Press
“1. Between Hope and Sorrow, an Intersection; 2. In Community, a Mixture of Grief, Anger, Gratitude”

A minivan struck a school bus in rural Cottonwood, Minnesota, killing four children, and little was known about the suspected driver except that she was in the country illegally. With defendant Olga Franco and families of the deceased not talking, the journalists go to Franco’s Guatemalan village. Judges said the piece took the news of the day and led the reader deep into the world of an undocumented Guatemalan immigrant scrambling to make a life for herself. The writer beautifully shows the complex tangle of choices Franco made before the horrific accident she’s currently in jail for. Although immigrant dream gone bad scenario is common material for stories, the judges said this one took the reader to a special place because of the writer’s extraordinary literary powers and attention to detail.

"Between Hope and Sorrow, an Intersection" & "In Community, a Mixture of Grief Anger, Gratitude"

TELEVISION – Documentary
José Jiménez Pons, Realizador; Llucía Oliva de la Esperanza, Guión, TVE España - “Pesadillas Americanas”

Este documental detalla la crisis económica de los Estados Unidos y cómo está afectando la gente, sobre todo los latinos. Con 40 millones de pobres, el sueldo mínimo más bajo de los pasados 50 años, los embates contra la clase media, el comienzo de dos guerras, y los recortes a programas sociales, se estima que peligra el llamado sueño americano. Los jueces comentaron sobre el concepto y la estructura muy profesional de la pieza y que el trabajo de cámara y edición excelente ayudaron a explicar de forma apremiante el legado del Presidente Bush.

José Jiménez Pons, Producer; Llucía Oliva de la Esperanza, Script; TVE España – “American Nightmares”

This documentary delves into the economic crisis in the United States and its impact on the people, particularly the Latinos in the country. With almost 40 million poor people, the minimum wage at its lowest in 50 years, blows to the middle class, the start of two wars, tax breaks that favor the rich, and cuts to social programs, the American dream is in danger. The judges praised the well developed concept and professional structure of the documentary and said the producers used excellent editing and camera work to explain President Bush’s legacy in an effective and compelling way.

TELEVISION – Investigative
Armen Keteyian, Chief Investigative Correspondent; Pia Malbran, Producer; Keith Summa, Senior Producer; Rick Kaplan, Executive Producer; CBS News – “The VA Suicides: Cover-Up Exposed”

The persistent investigative team uncovered the true risk of suicides by veterans despite efforts by top federal officials to conceal the information. The very well-produced series of four investigative reports also detailed how the inquiries for the information spurred a series of emails in which officials admitted to one another that the number of suicide attempts among veterans were higher than initially reported. The judges said it demonstrated investigative journalism at its finest and had an impact that benefited thousands of veterans, many of them Latino. It spurred three congressional hearings and prompted reforms to the Veteran Administration’s suicide awareness prevention program.

TELEVISION – Feature Large Market
Byron Pitts, Correspondent; Rodney Comrie, Producer; Betty Chin, Producer; Mike Mayberry, Editor; Kim Godwin, Senior Producer; Rick Kaplan, Executive Producer; CBS News – “The Carmelo Rodriguez Story”

The challenge of this story was unique and troubling because the man at its center, soldier Carmelo Rodriguez, died as the reporting team prepared to interview him. In stark terms, the journalists’ work revealed that the startling truth of Rodriguez’s death is that active duty personnel have no standing to sue the government for injury or death. Rodriguez was a Marine sergeant serving his country in Iraq when he was misdiagnosed by a military doctor. By the time his skin cancer was discovered, it was too late to save his life. It was never possible, however, for Rodriguez or his family to be compensated for the loss.

RADIO – Reporting
Julio Rivera-Saniel, WKAQ 580-Univision Radio, “La Perla Habla”
En esta pieza se denunció la incursión de efectivos del gobierno federal de los Estados Unidos para expropiar las viviendas de los residentes de ese mítico sector de la capital de Puerto Rico. La Perla, una comunidad centenaria con residentes pobres, pero ubicada en una zona privilegiada de la capital, ha sido codiciada por décadas por desarrolladores que aguardan por poder explotar el potencial económico de los terrenos. Sin embargo, entre 2007 y 2008, la intención de desplazamiento de los residentes llegá con la bendición del gobierno. Este trabajo y otros divulgados durante los años en cuestión consiguieron denunciar y detener la intención de desplazar a los residentes de La Perla. Los jueces destacaron el tema interesante y relativamente desconocido del trabajo y comentaron sobre el buen uso de sonido.

GUILLERMO MARTÍNEZ-MÁRQUEZ Award for Latin American Reporting
Gardenia Mendoza Aguilar, La Opinión – “La ruta del terror”

Esta serie de artículos detalla la travesía dolorosa de los migrantes centroamericanos que se arriesgan a viajar clandestinamente en trenes destartalados y a enfrentar mucho peligro en México y otras partes en su intento de llegar a los Estados Unidos. Migrantes mueren al resbalar o caerse del tren, le temen a los militares, las mujeres se inyectan con hormonas anticonceptivas y viajan con condones por si son violadas. Algunos son encontrados sin ojos, riñones, corazón, ni higado, y se teme que existe un tráfico de órganos. Los jueces comentaron que la periodista cubrió un ángulo olvidado y muchas veces negado de este tráfico humano y la secuencia publicada es como una novela que nos muestra el padecimiento de los inmigrantes, la participación de ciertas autoridades en el negocio, la vista hacia otro lado de muchos oficiales de la ley ante los abusos de los derechos humanos de los viajeros, quienes son condenados por el simple hecho de ser extranjeros sin papeles que buscan una mejor vida.

Gardenia Mendoza Aguilar, La Opinión – “La ruta del terror”

This series delves into the often painful journey of Central American immigrants that risk jumping on rickety trains and face many other dangers in Mexico and other parts along the way in their push to make it to the United States. Some die when they slip and fall off the train, they are vulnerable to abusive soldiers, women take hormone injections and travel with condoms in case they are raped. Some are found with no eyes, kidneys, heart or liver, raising the specter of organ trafficking. The judges said the journalist covered angles often forgotten and denied about human trafficking of Central Americans across Mexico. The stories read like a serialized novel that showed the plight of immigrants and the participation of certain authorities in the illegal business, including those who look the other way from human rights abuses toward those who are condemned for the simple fact that they are undocumented foreigners seeking a better life.

PDF version of winning entry: