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Univision 45 Anchor and Photographer Receive World-Wide Recognition
Amalia Torres and Mariano García, from Noticias 45 in Houston, win
Iberian-American Communication Grand Prize
Houston, TX -- News anchor/reporter Amalia Torres and news photographer Mariano García of Noticias 45 Univision received the prestigious Iberian-American Communication Grand Prize Award for the Rights of Children and Adolescents presented by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), making it the first time a United States Spanish-language network takes home this award. Torres and García received this honor for their 5-part news series special titled “Los Niños Huérfanos de la Guerra en Colombia” (“The Orphan Children of Colombia’s Warfare,”) chronicling the daily lives of Colombia’s guerilla-orphaned children. The award was presented in a special ceremony in Lima, Peru on November 20th, 2003.
Co-sponsored by UNICEF and the Agency from Spain EFE, under the coordination of the “Fundación Santillana por Iberoamérica,” the purpose of these awards is to recognize the labor of journalists working for the rights of children and adolescents while at the same time stimulating mass communication outlets to increase their coverage of the social problems faced by millions of children in Latin America, Spain and Portugal – such as social exclusion, poverty and violence.
Journalists from 20 nations that included Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, the United States, Mexico and Nicaragua competed for the various prizes. Torres and Garcia took the top award out of more than 800 entries from around the world and received a $3,000 grand prize.
In its third year, the award ceremony included judges such as Alfredo Missair, Regional UNICEF Adjunct Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Maria Clara Betancur, representative for the Santillana Foundation, and Ricardo Garcia, Board of Directors member for the Spanish UNICEF committee.
Amalia Torres was born in Bogotá, Colombia and began her career in journalism while still attending the University of Sabana in Colombia as a reporter for the National Radio of Colombia. She later worked for the Media Information Company (CMI) of Colombia as a television reporter, where she was able to cover issues of social importance such as education, health and safety. In 1994 she arrived in Houston as an international reporter for CMI and at the same time began to work as a reporter, photographer and writer for the Spanish-language daily newspaper El Dia. She joined KXLN-TV Univision 45 in June 2000 as a reporter and was promoted to anchor on October 2003.
Mariano García was born in El Salvador, where he began his career that spans over more than twenty years as a news photojournalist. He covered a large part of the war in El Salvador before moving to Houston. García joined KXLN-TV Univision 45 in January 1999.
For more information on the awards, please contact Robert Cohen, UNICEF, at 507-676-3216 or rcohen@unicef.org.
Univision Communications Inc. is the premier Spanish-language media company in the United States. Its operations include Univision Network, the most-watched Spanish-language broadcast television network in the U.S. reaching 97% of U.S. Hispanic Households; TeleFutura Network, a new general-interest Spanish-language broadcast television network reaching 78% of U.S. Hispanic Households; Univision Television Group, which owns and operates 23 Univision Network television stations and 1 non-Univision television station; TeleFutura Television Group, which owns and operates 30 TeleFutura Network television stations; Galavisión, the country's leading Spanish-language cable network; Univision Radio, the leading Spanish-language radio group which owns and/or operates 66 radio stations in 17 of the top 25 U.S. Hispanic markets and 4 stations in Puerto Rico; Univision Music Group, which includes Univision Records, Fonovisa Records, and a 50% interest in Mexico-based Disa Records labels as well as Fonomusic and America Musical Publishing companies; and Univision Online, the premier Spanish-language Internet destination in the U.S. located at www.univision.com. Univision Communications is headquartered in Los Angeles with television network operations in Miami and television and radio stations and sales offices in major cities throughout the United States.
For more information, please visit www.univision.net.
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