Last night the King vindicated “courageous journalism, with the capacity to attract, monitor, denounce and describe” at the delivery of the Mariano de Cavia, Luca de Tena and Mingote awards, granted by the newspaper Abc, which this year have distinguished the works of Manuel Jabois, Pedro García Cuartango and Flavita Banana.
The dinner, which took place at the newspaper’s headquarters in Madrid, was chaired by the King and Queen and was attended by representatives of politics, journalism and civil society.
In his words, with which the awards ceremony closed, Felipe VI reviewed the challenges facing journalism, “immersed in constant and frantic technological advances” which, as he warned, should not endanger “the basic principles of rigor, veracity and public interest”. The King proclaimed that “without independent journalism, there are no free opinions”.
Before closing his words, the King had a memory for the cartoonist Francisco Ibáñez, who died last Saturday, of whom he said that “he has accompanied us throughout our lives with his great characters who will remain alive among us forever.”
Manuel Jabois received the Mariano de Cavia award for his article “My life without WhatsApp” published in El País. Born in 1978 in Sanxenxo (Pontevedra), he began journalism at Diario de Pontevedra, from where he moved to El Mundo and, in 2015, to El País, where he writes columns, chronicles, reports and interviews. The King said of him that he is “a vital observer capable of attributing an essential context to each word.”
Pedro García Cuartango, from Burgos, 68 years old, has received the Luca de Tena award for his professional career. After working for Cinco Días and El Mundo, since 2017 he has been a columnist and columnist for Abc. In his speech, after presenting him with the award, the King stressed his “univocal and coherent criteria, in the face of any adverse wind.”
The Mingote prize, which alternatively is awarded to photographers or illustrators, has been awarded this year to cartoonist Flavia Álvarez-Pedrosa, better known as Flavita Banana, for an illustration published in El País. Born in Oviedo 36 years ago, Flavita Banana collaborates with various publications. When praising her work, the King recalled that in her cartoons, Flavita “appeals to the absurd as a way to introduce a smile, a reflection, or a simple wink at life.”
The jury for this edition has been made up of the director of the Royal Spanish Academy, Santiago Muñoz Machado, who has acted as president; Jordi Juan, director of La Vanguardia; Pepa Bueno, director of El País; Joaquín Manso, director of El Mundo; Eduardo Peralta, director of Ideal Quirós, director of Abc and José Miguel Santamaría, director of El Correo.
