Last Thursday, the awards ceremony of the CLABE Journalism and Communication Awards, organized by the Open Club of Editors, the most important association in the media sector in Spain, with nearly 1,000 publications of various formats, periodicities, and content, was held at the Caixaforum in Madrid.
The event was presided over by the president of Clabe, Arsenio Escolar, and was attended by the First Vice-President of the Government of Spain, Nadia Calviño, the Minister of Culture, Míquel Iceta, and the recently renewed president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, among other personalities.
At the aforementioned gala, the winners in the different categories were revealed, with La Voz de Lanzarote winning the Local Media Award. Techy Acosta and Pablo Muzás collected the award on behalf of La Voz de Lanzarote. The award was presented by María Dolores Padrón Rodríguez, Government Delegate of the Canary Islands in Madrid, and Virginia Pérez Alonso, director of Público and member of the Board of Directors of Clabe.
Recognition to the local media
Clabe awarded this prize to La Voz de Lanzarote "for its dedication and commitment" to its territory and its fellow citizens, as well as for the "ability to generate content of interest on a daily basis with honesty, transparency and independence. Also for its effort to innovate both from the technological perspective and from the formats and contents".
In the acceptance speech for the award, Pablo Muzás highlighted La Voz's "loyal and participatory audience", as well as the "continuous support of advertisers and collaborators", while also emphasizing "the talent and commitment of our professionals". He recalled that in 1995 La Voz de Lanzarote was one of the first newspapers in Spain to have a presence on the internet and that today it "is a digital platform for local communication managed by a family and purely journalistic company".
Commitment and trust in the publishing sector
Arsenio Escolar, president of Clabe, explained that "in these turbulent times in which the press has a bad press, we are going to try to be a space for civilized debate", emphasizing the importance of journalism. "We are not just any sector, we are the key in the exercise of citizens to receive truthful information." He also asked "the old media aristocracy, the regulators, all the agents of the sector for an open mind, a better understanding of the digital reality and greater sensitivity to achieve informational plurality".
The First Vice-President and Minister of Economy of the Government of Spain, Nadia Calviño, highlighted the initiative and resilience of an essential sector. "I would like to make a necessary recognition of the work of the editors, the media and the professionals of the journalism and communication sector, who do a fundamental job in a more complex environment, due to the digitalization and the changes that are taking place in society." She wanted to insist on the need to value the work well done, the responsibility, the constructive dialogue or the collaboration against the outburst. "It is essential that we maintain that optimistic and positive vision that allows us to see the opportunities among all the challenges."
The Clabe 2022 awards
The CLABE Awards recognize the work carried out by editors and communication professionals, their commitment to the sector and their contribution to society in general.
The winners, announced at the gala this Thursday, were:
1. Award for Specialized Media: Alternativas Económicas.
2. Award for Local Media: La Voz de Lanzarote.
3. Award for General Media: The Objective.
4. Award for Professional Career: Gumersindo Lafuente.
5. Award for Journalistic Innovation: SDO TV Local. Edetronik Group.
6. Award for Advertising Campaign: Mother tongue there is only one of the Real Academia Española (RAE) and the Academia de la Publicidad.
In this category there was a Special Mention to the campaign The richest country in the world. #AlimentosdeEspaña, of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
7. Award for Excellence in Communication: CANAL AC2ALITY.
8. Award for Professional of the Year: Carmen Alsina, Director of Communication, Institutional Relations and Sustainability of CEOE.
9. Award for Entrepreneurship: Geopolítica Pop (El Orden Mundial).
10. Award for Solidarity Cause: efeminista. In this category there was a Special Mention to the Archiletras Manifesto for a Clear Language in the Administration. Likewise, there was a Special Mention to Antonio Gárate, presenter and director of La hora cultural in RTVE, for his strong commitment to dialogue, peace and culture, and for having discovered and inspired with Komarmusica the organization of these awards to unite artists of nationalities, now at war, in defense of those universal values.
The jury of this XV edition of the CLABE Awards has been composed of:
- Margarita Jerez, president of the jury and member of the Board of Directors of CLABE.
- Lola Fernández, General Director of Sweet Press and member of the Board of Directors of CLABE.
- Ángel Fernández, CEO of Jot Down and member of the Board of Directors of CLABE.
- Carmen Alsina, Director of Communication, Institutional Relations and Sustainability of CEOE.
- Marga Cabrera, director of the Communication Area of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV).
- Juan Zafra, general director of CLABE.
If you want to see the video of the complete gala you can see it here
