The national “Felix Varela” Annual Award for Excellence in Spanish-language Journalism in the United States is the largest cash prize in this category in American Journalism.

The prizes are presented by the AL DIA Foundation, chaired by Hernán Guaracao, former president of the National Association of Hispanic Publications in the US, and founder, editor and publisher of AL DIA, a print and web-based news media organization with main offices in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The award was established to honor the memory of Father Felix Varela y Morales, an American intellectual of Latino origin who founded one of the first Spanish-language newspapers in the United States, in the city of Philadelphia, at the beginning of the 19th Century.

The “Felix Varela” Awards’ purpose is to recognize any American journalist covering with excellence Latino issues in the nation today, either through Spanish-language Print, or any digital media outlet, in English or Spanish.

Who was Felix Varela?

• A Catholic priest born in Cuba in 1788 who lived most of his life in the US. He came to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1824.
• Varela y Morales became that year in this city the founder of “El Habanero”, the first of several newspapers he published in the US.
• “El Habanero” saw the light in Old City Philadelphia, the cradle of our Democracy and the Free Press.
• Father Varela was also a prolific writer and the author of multiple essays on cooperation between the English and Spanish-speaking communities.
• Father Varela translated into Spanish important English-language books, including Thomas Jefferson’s “Manual of Parliamentary Practice.”
• In 1997 the United States Postal Service honored Varela by issuing a commemorative stamp.

Spanish Print Category - First Prize

Esclavos del siglo XXI

By Claudia Nuñez from La Opinión

In this well-documented series on Mexican immigrants lured to northern California by phony promises of good paying jobs who end up as virtual slaves in service jobs, Ms. Nuñez captures the human drama of this story of our times. The series is exquisitely crafted, meticulously reported and captures the human dimension of the male and female immigrants caught in a pernicious web of human trafficking, which has become a crisis of global proportions.

Read the award winning article here

Honorable Mention

• Guerra en los bosques: Traficantes amenazan, por Eva Sanchis, El Diario/La Prensa
• Luchó hasta el fin: Voluntarios desafían una montana para encontrar a un inmigrante, por Hiram Soto, Enlace

Hispanic Immigrant Stories Category - First Prize

The Mayan Way

By Matt OBrien from Daily Review

An expertly told tale of the immigration of indigenous rural Guatemalans to a suburban community in the San Francisco Bay area. This series, published in English and Spanish, explores the push and pull factors of the Guatemalans immigration the violence and poverty that drives them north, the promise that beckons, and the risks they encounter to survive in the alien culture of the United States. The series is enhanced by excellent images and moving first-person audio accounts by the immigrants.

Read the award winning article here

Honorable Mention

• Death in the Desert: Jesus long journey home, by Mariana Alvarado Avalos, Arizona Daily Star.
• The Best of all Bad Choices, by Angelica Herrera, The Chicago Reporter.

Two $10,000 awards will be presented by the AL DIA Foundation for the best examples of print and web-based journalism in two categories:

• Spanish-Language Print Journalism
• English-Language or Spanish-Language Digital Journalism

Investigative journalism, feature writing, commentary, and blog writing are eligible. The Varela Awards do not yet include still photography or broadcast journalism.

Submissions must consist of materials prepared in the ordinary course of the journalist’s professional production. Only one entry per individual is accepted. Individuals may apply on their own, or be entered by their organization. Multiple by-lines are eligible.

Entry Procedures

• There is no entry fee.
• No entry materials will be returned.
• No faxed or e-mail entries.

Print Journalism and Digital Journalism Applicants

• Submit FIVE hard copies of the qualifying materials.
• All clips must show the name of the publication, story headline, page, and date of publication.
• Entries must be on 8-1/2 x 11 inch white pages without fold-overs or reductions. Broadsheet originals may need cut-and-pasting. Photocopies are also acceptable.
• Digital Journalism entries must also include a disk.

Materials may be used by the AL DIA Foundation for promotional purposes of the "Felix Varela" Awards.

Deadline

Entries for calendar year 2009 must be postmarked no later than December 31st, 2009. Competition is limited to work done during the calendar year ending December 31st, 2009.

Entry Application

Copy of the application is available online here in Adobe PDF format. The entry form must be downloaded, printed, and mailed to the address below.

The “FELIX VARELA” Awards
AL DIA Foundation
1500 JFK Blv., Ste 525
Philadelphia, PA 19102
e-mail: felixvarela@aldiainc.com

Two $10,000 awards will be presented by the AL DIA Foundation for the best examples of Print Journalism and Digital Journalism produced on American Latino issues during 2009 across the 50 states. These are the categories for the 2009 awards:

Spanish-Language Print Journalism

Any work of investigation, feature writing, interviews or opinion columns of any length on any topic that has been published between January 1st and December 31st 2009 in any Spanish-language newspaper in the US that can be attributed to the journalist seeking the recognition. Submissions must be in Spanish.

Digital Journalism (English or Spanish)

Any work of any length on any topic that has been published exclusively online between January 1st and December 31st 2008, that can be attributed to the writer seeking the recognition in any web site based in the US. Blog writers are now welcome to submit their work in this category. Submissions may be in Spanish or English.

The deadline for submissions of work for this year contest is December 31st, 2009.