The Maria Moors Cabot Prizes are the oldest international awards in the field of journalism.[1] They are presented each fall by the Trustees of Columbia University to journalists in the Western hemisphere who are viewed as having made a significant contributions to upholding freedom of the press in the Americas and Inter-American understanding. Since 2003, the prize can be awarded to an organization instead of an individual.[2]
The American Boston industrialist and philanthropist, Godfrey Lowell Cabot, who founded the Cabot Corporation and was also a major benefactor of both MIT and Harvard, where the general science library is named in his honor, established the Maria Moors Cabot Prizes in 1938, in memory of his wife.[2]
The prizes have been awarded annually since 1939, by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, on recommendation of the dean of the Graduate School of Journalism and the Cabot Prize Board, which is composed of journalists and educators.
The awards board consists of the following persons:
Tracy Wilkinson, from the Los Angeles Times where she covered the Iraq War, among others.
Carlos Dada, Salvadoran journalist, founder and director of El Faro. He won the Maria Moors Cabot Prize in 2011.
John Dinges, The Godfrey Lowell Cabot Professor of Journalism at Columbia University is an author and journalist specializing in Latin America. He received a Maria Moors Cabot Prizes medal in 1992.
Juan Enriquez Cabot, Authority on economic and political impacts of life sciences. Best-selling author; speaker; investor/co-founder in multiple start up companies; board member for both private and public companies/non-profits. Former founding Director of Life Sciences Project at Harvard Business School.
June Carolyn Erlick, editor-in-chief of ReVista, the Harvard Review of Latin America.
Gustavo Gorritti, Peruvian journalist, the founder of lDL Reporteros. He is a recipient of a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University and a winner of the Maria Moors Cabot Prize in 1992 and the FNPI Gabriel García Marquez award. Expert in Peruvian internal war and anti corruption investigation. Carlos Lauría, Americas Program Coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists. Julia Preston, national correspondent for The New York Times. Preston received a Maria Moors Cabot Prize in 1997. María Teresa Ronderos, Serves as Director of VerdadAbierta.com. Ronderos is an editorial advisor to Semana. She received the King of Spain Ibero-American Award in 1997 and received a Maria Moors Cabot Prize in 2007. Paulo Sotero, director of the Brazil Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.[3]
Three to four medalists from the United States, Latin America, and Canada are selected each year. Prize winners receive the Cabot medal and a $5,000 honorarium, plus travel expenses to New York City and hotel accommodations for the presentation ceremony.
As of 2014, 273 Cabot gold medals and 56 special citations have been awarded to journalists from more than 30 countries in the Americas.[4]
| Year | Honorees | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Eliane Brum | |
| Adela Navarro Bello | ||
| Mary Beth Sheridan | ||
| Adriana Zehbrauskas | / | |
| Regina Martínez Pérez and The Cartel Project | ||
| Contracorriente | ||
| 2020 | Ricardo Calderón Villegas | |
| Patrícia Campos Mello | ||
| Stephen Ferry | ||
| Carrie Kahn | ||
| 2019 | Angela Kocherga | |
| Pedro Xavier Molina | ||
| Boris Muñoz | ||
| Marcela Turati | ||
| 2018 | Hugo Alconada Mon | |
| Jacqueline Charles | ||
| Graciela Mochkofsky | ||
| Fernando Rodrigues | ||
| Meridith Kohut | ||
| 2017 | Martín Caparrós | |
| Dorrit Harazim | ||
| Nick Miroff | ||
| Mimi Whitefield | ||
| 2016 | Rodrigo Abd | |
| Rosental Alves | ||
| Margarita Martínez | ||
| Óscar Martínez | ||
| Marina Walker Guevara and the Panama Papers Reporting Team | ||
| 2015 | Lucas Mendes | |
| Raúl Peñaranda | ||
| Simon Romero | ||
| Mark Stevenson | ||
| Ernesto Londoño | ||
| 2014 | Frank Bajak | |
| Paco Calderón | ||
| Giannina Segnini | ||
| Tracy Wilkinson | ||
| Tamoa Calzadilla | ||
| Laura Weffer | ||
| 2013 | Jon Lee Anderson | |
| Donna de Cesare | ||
| Mauri König | ||
| Alejandro Santos Rubino | ||
| 2012 | Teodoro Petkoff | |
| Miguel Ángel Bastenier | ||
| Juan Forero | ||
| David Luhnow | ||
| El Universo | ||
| 2011 | Arizona Daily Star | |
| El Diario de Juárez | ||
| Ríodoce | ||
| Carlos Dada | ||
| Jean-Michel Leprince | ||
| 2010 | Tyler Bridges | |
| Carlos Fernando Chamorro | ||
| Norman Gall | ||
| Joaquim Ibarz | ||
| Signal FM radio station | ||
| CNN and Anderson Cooper 360° | ||
| 2009 | Anthony DePalma | |
| Christopher Hawley | ||
| Merval Pereira | ||
| Yoani Sánchez | ||
| 2008 | Carmen Aristegui Flores | |
| Sam Quiñones | ||
| Gustavo Sierra | ||
| Michael Smith | ||
| 2007 | Alfredo Corchado | |
| José Vales | ||
| María Teresa Ronderos | ||
| Gary T. Marx | ||
| 2006 | Mario Vargas Llosa | |
| Ginger Thompson | ||
| José Hamilton Ribeiro | ||
| Matt Moffet | ||
| 2005 | Miriam Leitão | |
| Tim Padgett | ||
| Mabel Rehnfeldt | ||
| S. Lynne Walker | ||
| La Nación | ||
| 2004 | Gerardo Reyes (journalist) | |
| Daniel Santoro | ||
| Elena Poniatowska | ||
| Joel Millman | ||
| Alberto Ibargüen | ||
| 2003 | João Antônio Barros | |
| Raúl Kraiselburd | ||
| Mac Margolis | ||
| Michael Reid | ||
| Sociedad de Periodistas Manuel Márquez Sterling | ||
| 2002 | David C. Adams | |
| Sergio Luis Carreras | ||
| Michèle Montas | ||
| Robert J. Rivard | ||
| 2001 | Monica Gonzalez | |
| Jorge Ramos | ||
| Clóvis Rossi | ||
| Sebastian R. Rotella | ||
| 2000 | Eloy O. Aguilar | |
| Paul Knox | ||
| Francisco Santos | ||
| Ricardo Uceda | ||
| Lloyd Williams | ||
| 1999 | James McClatchy | |
| Raúl Rivero | ||
| Linda Robinson | ||
| Juan Tamayo | ||
| Jorge Zepeda Patterson | ||
| 1998 | Jesús Blancornelas | |
| Edmundo Cruz Vílchez | ||
| Andrés Oppenheimer | ||
| William Lawrence Rohter, Jr. | ||
| 1997 | Gerardo Bedoya | |
| José de Córdoba | ||
| Jorge Fontevecchia | ||
| Julia Preston | ||
| Enrique Santos Castillo | ||
| Hernando Santos Castillo | ||
| 1996 | Dudley Althaus | |
| Ramón Garza García | ||
| Timothy Jay Johnson | ||
| Eduardo Ulibarri | ||
| 1995 | Roberto Eisenmann | |
| Douglas Farah | ||
| Canute James | ||
| Geri Smith | ||
| José Zamora Marroquín | ||
| 1994 | James Brooke | |
| Mauricio Funes | ||
| Susan Meiselas | ||
| Oscar Serrat | ||
| 1993 | Pamela Constable | |
| Manuel de Dios | ||
| Edward Seaton | ||
| Patricia Verdugo | ||
| 1992 | Danilo Arbilla | |
| Sam Dillon | ||
| John Dinges | ||
| Gustavo Gorriti | ||
| 1991 | Ricardo Arnt | |
| Gilberto Dimenstein | ||
| Otavio Frias Filho | ||
| Eduardo Gallardo | ||
| Alejandro Junco de la Vega | ||
| 1990 | Richard Boudreaux | |
| Huascar Cajias Kauffman | ||
| Elsie Etheart | ||
| Alma Guillermoprieto | ||
| Carlos Lins da Silva | ||
| Lucia Newman | ||
| 1989 | Felipe López Caballero | |
| Humberto Rubín Schvartzman | ||
| Juan M. Vazquez | ||
| Arturo Villar | ||
| 1988 | Nicholas Clark Asheshov | |
| Roberto Civita | ||
| Stephen Kinzer | ||
| Hermenegildo Sábat | ||
| 1987 | Luis Camacho (posthumous) | |
| Guillermo Cano Isaza (posthumous) | ||
| Raúl Echavarría Barrientos | ||
| Guy Gugliotta | ||
| Luis Levy | ||
| Roberto Muller | ||
| Paulo Sotero | ||
| 1986 | Dario Arizmendi | |
| Alfonso Chardy | ||
| Hugh O'Shaughnessy | ||
| Julio Rajneri | ||
| Guillermo Sánchez Borbón | ||
| Gavin Scott | ||
| 1985 | Shirley Christian | |
| Dery Dyer | ||
| Richard Dyer | ||
| William H. Heath | ||
| Rafael Herrera | ||
| Andrew Morrison | ||
| Aldo Zuccolillo | ||
| 1984 | William Buzenberg | |
| Kenneth Gordon | ||
| John Hoagland (posthumous) | ||
| Harold Hoyte | ||
| Alister Hughes | ||
| Cynthia Hughes | ||
| Frank Manitzas | ||
| 1983 | Jack Fendell | |
| Emilio Filippi | ||
| Everett Martin | ||
| Marcel Neidergang | ||
| 1982 | Frances Grant | |
| William R. Long | ||
| Daniel Samper | ||
| 1981 | Karen DeYoung | |
| Marlise Simons | ||
| Stanley Swinton | ||
| Jacobo Timerman | ||
| 1980 | Richard T. Baker | |
| Guido Fernández | ||
| Penny Lernoux | ||
| Alan Riding | ||
| Bill Stewart (posthumous) | ||
| 1979 | Leslie Ashenheim | |
| Jerry Hannifin | ||
| Andrew Heiskell | ||
| Jeremiah O'Leary | ||
| Juan Zuleta Ferrer | ||
| 1978 | Joseph Benham | |
| Carlos Castelo Branco | ||
| Robert Cox | ||
| Carl Migdail | ||
| 1977 | Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal | |
| Jonathan Kandell | ||
| Joseph A. Taylor | ||
| Anita von Kahler Gumpert | ||
| 1976 | Robert U. Brown | |
| Bernard Diederich | ||
| Germán Ornes | ||
| Jorge Remonda-Ruibal | ||
| 1975 | Walter Everett (journalist) | |
| Norman Ingrey | ||
| David Kraiselburd (posthumous) | ||
| Sam Summerlin | ||
| Enrique Zileri Gibson | ||
| 1974 | Donald Bohning | |
| William Montalbano | ||
| Fernando Pedreira | ||
| 1973 | David F. Belnap | |
| Donald Casey | ||
| Diana Julio de Massot | ||
| 1972 | Pedro Beltrán | |
| Tom Steithorst | ||
| Arturo Uslar Pietri | ||
| 1971 | Juan Carlos Colombres (Landrú) | |
| Georgie Anne Geyer | ||
| Julio Scherer García | ||
| 1970 | Alberto Dines | |
| John Goshko | ||
| John Harbron | ||
| 1969 | Alceu Amoroso Lima | |
| Edward W. Barrett | ||
| George Beebe | ||
| Luis Gabriel Cano | ||
| 1968 | Robert Bellerez | |
| Alberto Gainza Paz | ||
| Guillermo Gutiérrez | ||
| Argentina Hills | ||
| José Joaquin Salcedo | ||
| 1967 | Peter Aldor | |
| James S. Copley | ||
| James Goodsell | ||
| M.F. Nascimento Brito | ||
| Ramón J. Velásquez | ||
| 1966 | Alberto Cellario | |
| Agustín Edwards Eastman | ||
| Paul Kidd (journalist) | ||
| 1965 | Gesford Fine | |
| Roberto Marinho | ||
| Victoria Ocampo | ||
| Paul Sanders | ||
| 1964 | Hugo Fernández Artucio | |
| Bertram Johansson | ||
| Enrique Nores | ||
| Virginia Prewett | ||
| 1963 | Germán Arciniegas | |
| William Barlow | ||
| Jorge Fernández | ||
| Juan de Onis | ||
| Juan Valmaggia | ||
| 1962 | Raúl Fontaina | |
| John R. Herbert | ||
| Rodolfo Junco de la Vega | ||
| John Shively Knight | ||
| 1961 | Alejandro Carrión | |
| Fernando Gómez Martínez | ||
| Albert Nevins | ||
| Rómulo O'Farrill | ||
| John T. O'Rourke | ||
| 1960 | James Canel | |
| José Dutriz, Jr. | ||
| Rodolfo Luque | ||
| William M. Pepper, Jr. | ||
| Eduardo Santos | ||
| 1959 | Ricardo Castro Beeche | |
| Clement Hellyer | ||
| Juan A. Ramírez | ||
| Tad Szulc | ||
| Hernane Tavares de Sá | ||
| 1958 | Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta | |
| Eduardo Cardenas | ||
| Jesús Hernández Chapellín | ||
| Miguel Angel Quevedo | ||
| 1957 | Paulo Bittencourt | |
| Luis Franzini | ||
| Harry W. Frantz | ||
| John Shively Knight | ||
| Miguel Lanz Duret | ||
| Carlos Mantilla | ||
| Roberto Marinho | ||
| Guillermo Martínez Márquez | ||
| Herbert Moses | ||
| John T. O'Rourke | ||
| René Silva Espejo | ||
| James Geddes Stahlman | ||
| Tom Wallace | ||
| 1956 | Carl W. Ackerman | |
| Jesús Alvarez del Castillo | ||
| Roberto García Peña | ||
| Herbert Matthews | ||
| David Torino | ||
| 1955 | Pedro Beltrán | |
| Breno Caldas | ||
| John Oliver LaGorce | ||
| Roberto Noble | ||
| A. T. Steele | ||
| 1954 | Gabriel Cano | |
| Sidney Fletcher | ||
| Danton Jobim | ||
| Carlos Ramirez MacGregor | ||
| Lloyd Statton | ||
| 1953 | Crede Clahoun | |
| Carlos Lacerda | ||
| Ismael Pérez Castro | ||
| Arturo Schaerer | ||
| 1952 | Antonio Arias Bernal | |
| Austregésilo de Athayde | ||
| Jorge Délano Frederick (Coke) | ||
| Jules Dubois | ||
| Juan B. Fernández | ||
| 1951 | Elmano Cardim | |
| Julio Garzón | ||
| Ramón León | ||
| Francisco María Núñez | ||
| 1950 | John Brogan | |
| María Constanza Huergo | ||
| Jesús María Pellín | ||
| Joshua Powers | ||
| Ángel Ramos | ||
| 1949 | Milton Bracker | |
| Eduardo Rodriguez Larreta | ||
| José Santiago Castillo | ||
| 1948 | Manuel Cineros Sánchez | |
| Joseph L. Jones | ||
| Orlando Ribeiro Dantas | ||
| Alfredo Silva-Carballo | ||
| 1947 | Carlos Aramayo | |
| Alberto Lleras Camargo | ||
| David Vela | ||
| 1946 | Grant Dexter | |
| Lee Hills | ||
| Miguel Lanz Duret | ||
| 1945 | Assis Chateaubriand | |
| Luis Teófilo Nuñez | ||
| Tom Wallace | ||
| 1944 | Carlos Mantilla Ortega | |
| Albert McGeachy | ||
| Jorge Pinto | ||
| 1943 | Pedro Cue | |
| Rodrigo de Llano | ||
| Edward Tomlinson | ||
| 1942 | Lorenzo Batlle Pacheco | |
| Luis Mitre | ||
| 1941 | Paulo Bittencourt | |
| Sylvia de Arruda Botelho Bittencourt | ||
| Carlos Dávila | ||
| José Ignacio Rivero | ||
| 1940 | Agustín Edwards Mac Clure | |
| James Irving Miller | ||
| Enrique Santos Montejo | ||
| Rafael Heliodoro Valle | ||
| 1939 | Luis Miró Quesada de la Guerra | |
| José Santos Gollan |
The winners of the award are announced between May and July, and the prizes are presented by the President of Columbia University each fall, at a ceremony in the rotunda of Low Memorial Library.
In 2009, 34-year-old Cuban writer Yoani Sánchez became the first blogger to win the Maria Moors Cabot Prize. The award was given for her blog, Generación Y, which contained much criticism of the Cuban regime. Sánchez was denied an exit visa to travel to New York to receive her prize.[5]