Álvaro Medina and Berta Muñoz, students of the second year of the degree in Audiovisual Communication (CA) at the Universidad Europea del Atlántico (European University of the Atlantic,UNEATLANTICO) have proclaimed themselves winners of the I Journalism Prize, celebrated within the first edition of the Journalism Week.
This I Journalism Award aims to foster journalistic excellence among university students, promoting research, creativity, informational rigor and ethical commitment. The contest was aimed exclusively at students currently enrolled in journalism degrees, who were able to submit their work to qualify for the award.
The jury was composed of three Cantabrian journalists outside the university, which ensured the anonymity of the participants throughout the evaluation process. The professionals in charge of evaluating the works were Julia Roiz, Coral González and Ángela Luján.
The project presented by Medina and Muñoz consisted of a sound report entitled “Four Footprints”, focused on the abandonment of dogs in Cantabria. According to Muñoz, both conducted a previous documentation process and interviewed several people who had experienced adopting or rescuing dogs. In addition, they had the collaboration of ASPROAN, a protectress of animals from Cantabria, with whom they could also talk to enrich the report.
In addition, Muñoz emphasizes that “we chose the topic because I wanted to talk about dogs and then it led to abandonment, because we thought it could serve to raise awareness among people who would listen.” With this approach, both authors sought not only to report on a problem present in Cantabria, but also to sensitize society about the consequences of animal abandonment and the importance of responsible adoption.
About the final result of the work, Muñoz explains that “thanks to the edition by Álvaro and then some locution I made, came out the result that was the winner”. He also acknowledges the surprise of receiving the award: “We did not expect it at all, but there it is, and the truth is that we are quite surprised, although also very happy”.
Ángela Ruiz, teacher of UNEATLANTICO and organizer, highlights that the objective of the contest It is that the students’ works come out of the classroom, that the students find and create their own personal brand as future journalists and encourage in them fundamental qualities such as curiosity, initiative, search for sources, research, comparison of information and informational rigor».