The Secretary General for Territory and Biodiversity and President of the Board of Trustees of the Biodiversity Foundation, Antonio Serrano, today presented the awards of the “II Prize for Reporting on Biodiversity in Spain 2006” organized by the Biodiversity Foundation. During this event, which was held within the framework of the National Congress on the Environment, CONAMA 8, Antonio Serrano was accompanied by the director of the Biodiversity Foundation, María Artola, and the executive director of the Biodiversity Reporting Award in Latin America, Haroldo Castro.

The “Prize for Reporting on Biodiversity in Spain 2006” recognises the best works on biodiversity conservation, published in the Spanish press, radio, television and online media from January to October 2006. The winning report in each of these four categories has been awarded 3,000 euros.

The “Prize for Reporting on Biodiversity in Spain 2006” in the category of written press has corresponded to the report “The desert that migrates”, published by Antonio Barrero in the supplement A Tu Salud Verde, of the newspaper La Razón. In the radio category, the winning work has been “Electric lines: danger for birds”, made by Javier Gregori and broadcast on the environmental news “La hora del siglo XXI” of the SER chain. As for the television modality, the award-winning report has been “Cave fauna”, prepared by Abel Campos and broadcast on the Medi Ambient program of Televisió Valenciana. In the online media category, the work “La Amazonia”, published by Martha Goyeneche on the ecoestrategia.com portal, has been awarded.

A total of 50 journalists have presented their reports in this second edition of the Biodiversity Reporting Award in Spain, with most of the works presented being of high quality, which has made the work of the jury difficult.

As in the first edition held last year, the jury was made up of renowned personalities from the world of communication, science and the environment, and they mainly valued those reports that highlighted their relationship with sustainable development, the mobilisation of citizens in the defence of natural resources and those that were based on the strategic lines of the Biodiversity Foundation.

Likewise, during this event, the “Biodiversity Reporting Awards 2006” were presented in the different Latin American countries where this journalistic contest is held, and organized by the Biodiversity Foundation and the environmental organization Conservation International. Thus, the winners of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela – a contest that is organized only for the press – as well as the winner of the edition of the Reporting Award in the Brazilian television category, have received their awards.

In addition, during this ceremony, the first and second “Andean Biodiversity Reporting Awards” promoted by the Biodiversity Foundation and Conservation International were presented. The winner of the first Andean prize was the Ecuadorian journalist Marjorie Jacqueline Ortiz for her report “Export of fins with permission from the country”, published in the newspaper El Universo. The second Andean prize went to the report “Yo, el sinú: humillado y offendido” by the journalist Rafael Cervantes, and published in the newspaper Tierra Caliente, in Colombia.

The winners of the Andean Award are chosen from among the journalists who have won the “Biodiversity Reporting Award” in the Spanish-speaking countries that compete in this journalistic contest – Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela – and have been decided today.