The Cádiz Press Association (APC) and the Cajasol Foundation today presented the XXIX Agustín Merello Prize for Communication to the journalist Fernando Santiago Muñoz (1958). With this award, created in memory of the late journalist Agustín Merello, it is sought to distinguish information professionals, entities and institutions that stand out for their journalistic and human values in the performance of their work, reports the APC in a statement.
Santiago has explained to the SER that “it is a very great honor, because of the jury that has given it, because it is granted by my Association, because it bears the name of a great friend, because I succeed another friend.” At the same time, he has expressed his memory for the journalist José Maria Calleja, who died last April, closely linked to Cádiz and who received the APC award in 1994.
The jury highlighted that “Fernando Santiago was one of the first journalists to use a blog as a way to develop his profession. His blog Con la venia, hosted on the Joly Group’s digital media, has become a local and regional reference, and has complemented conventional journalism by providing information, interpretation and a variety of its own content that reflects almost all journalistic genres ”.
The choice was made by a jury made up of Kitty Pastor, Mercedes de Pablos, Francisco Correal, María del Mar Díez, José María Izquierdo acting as president, and Taite Cortés as secretary. They have unanimously considered the trajectory and tireless work of Fernando Santiago, who accumulates all the values that the Agustín Merello Prize for Communication seeks to recognize.
Fernando Santiago has been the visible face of Cadiz journalists for 12 years. His repeated terms as president were characterized by the notable increase in the entity’s institutional presence.
The APC has 29 consecutive editions of the Agustín Merello award. The award is endowed with a cash prize of 3,000 euros sponsored by the Cajasol Foundation, as well as an accrediting diploma designed by the Cádiz poet Rafael Alberti. Previous winners include information professionals such as Soledad Gallego Díaz, Matías Prats, Luis Del Olmo, Iñaki Gabilondo and John Carlin; writers of the stature of José Saramago or entities such as La Casa de los Periodistas de Paris.
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