Leonel Fernández Presents the 2018 Funglode/GFDD Awards During Ceremony Recognizing Journalists Mario Rivadulla and Miguel Franjul

The awards ceremony was organized by the Funglode Cultural Studies Center and took place in the Funglode auditorium. José Rafael Lantigua, Director of the Cultural Studies Center at Funglode and Catherine Florentino, the Center’s Executive Coordinator led the event.

During a ceremony led by the former president of the Dominican Republic and president of the  Global Foundation for Democracy and Development/ Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (GFDD/Funglode), Dr. Leonel Fernández and the Cultural Studies Center at Funglode, the 2018 Funglode/GFDD awards were distributed for the categories of Journalism, Photography, Story, Essay, Novel and Poetry.

Alongside Dr. Fernández, José Rafael Lantigua, Director of the Cultural Studies Center at Funglode; Funglode’s Executive Director, Marco Herrera and Catherine Florentino, the Cultural Studies Center’s Executive Coordinator, presented the awards.

The ceremony’s main speech was given by Lantigua, who highlighted the competition, that throughout its twelve-year history, has published and awarded the works of dozens of men and women writers.

This year the program received 246 entries in total: 126 stories; 3 novels; 25 poems; 13 for journalism and 8 essays. In the photography category there were 71 proposals: 35 in color; 24 in black and white and 12 in digital photography.

The first-place winners received cash prizes that varied between RD$30,000.00 and RD$150,000.00.

The winners of the story, poetry, journalism, and essay categories, in addition to receiving the cash prizes, will have their works published in the Editorial Funglode.

Special Recognition
During the celebration a special acknowledgment was given to journalist Mario Rivadulla, who has been a judge for the Journalism category during all twelve years of the contest.

The Funglode/GFDD Awards highlighted the journalistic contributions of the Cuban journalists who started in Cuba and, after four decades of writing, remains active, writing and producing for a daily television program.

In a special video Rivadulla’s intelectual contributions were highlighted by journalist and former Press Director to the Dominican President, Rafael Núñez; Director of the Diario Libre, Adriano Miguel Tejada and Minister of Culture and writer José Rafael Lantigua.

Director of the Listín Diario, Miguel Franjul, was also honored for the number of awards that that newspaper has received (the most in the history of the awards ceremony), as well as for the “great social and human interest” of the publications produced by the Listín Diario.

Along with Franjul, the journalists Fabio Cabral, Juan Eduardo Thomas, Tomás Aquino Méndez and Coralis Orbe were recognized for their involvement in the award-winning projects “Embarazos en Adolescentes,” “El primer empleo,” and “Una metrópolis enferma.”

Cultural Celebration
Every year the awards ceremony becomes a cultural celebration. This year the theatre company Cúcara Mácara performed during the opening portion of the event.

“El canillita feliz” (The Happy Paperboy), interpreted by young actor Luinis Olaverría, entertained the audience with a story about a young newspaper seller that yells the name of the newspaper in streets and avenues in order to make a living. Olaverría is part of the Cúcara-Mácara theatre company. Basilio Nova wrote the script and Elizabeth Ovalles directed the play.

The celebration ended with a performance by the youth orchestra, Grupo de Cámara Infantil de la Escuela Elemental de Música Elila Mena, which is directed by Georgina Betancourt.

Beekyrene Pérez is the director of the school, widely known for its support of the development of hundreds of Dominican musicians.

2018 Awards:

“PEDRO MIR” POETRY AWARD

– Award Winner: “La muerte en cuatro -otra vez la muerte.” Author: Natacha Batlle (Pseudonym, Odín Cito).
Judges: Ylonka Nacidit-Perdomo, Enegildo Peña and Pedro Ovalles

JUAN BOSCH STORY AWARD

– First Place: “Susurros al atardecer sobre el río Higüamo.” Author: Víctor de Frías (Seudónimo, Cerebrito Cabral)

– Second Place: “Laia.” Author: Víctor Arcturus Estrella Sánchez (Pseudonym, La IA)

-Third Place: “El viejo ventilador.” Author: Elizabeth Villamán

Honorable Mention:
– “El Padrino de Beto Tres Cuchillos,” by Víctor de Frías (Pseudonym, Ti Noel)
– “La carta,” by Carlos Castro (Pseudonym, Oscar Why).
– “En boca cerrada no entran moscas,” by Leonardo Nen (Pseudonym, Virgilio Peix)
Judges: Pedro Antonio Valdez, Rafael José Rodríguez and Emilia Pereyra

FEDERICO GARCÍA GODOY NOVEL AWARD

(This award was not given) 
Judges: René Rodríguez Soriano, Luis R. Santos and Rubén Sánchez Féliz

PEDRO FRANCISCO BONÓ ESSAY AWARD

– First Place: “Algunas dilucidaciones exentas del currículum académico dominicano.” Author: Pedro Carreras (Pseudonym, Rompesaraguey)

– Runner-up: “Modernidad, imperativos de un mal necesario.” Author: Bismar Galán Gálvez (Pseudonym, Wil-Ga 23)

– Second runner-up: “Globo-imaginarios (representación de la “Verdad”-Mentira en la complejidad de lo global.” Author: Juan Gelabert (Pseudonym, Nauj Trebaleg).
Judges: Franklin Gutierrez, Frank Rosario and Basilio Belliard

RAFAEL HERRERA JOURNALISM AWARD

– First Place“Embarazos en Adolescentes”. Author: Doris Pantaleón, published in Listín Diario

– Finalist: “El Primer Empleo.” Author: Lihon Tejeda, published in Listín Diario

– Finalist: “Primavera de Miel para los Apicultores del Noroeste.” Author: Panki Corcino, published in El Dinero

Acknowledgment:– “Una Metrópolis Enferma,” series published in Listín Diario.
Authors: Miguel Franjul, Doris Pantaleón, Wuanda Mendéz, Dalton Herrero, Santiago de la Cruz, Martín Adames, Scarlen Pozo, Javier Flores, Jaclin Campos, Yaniris Lopez, Jhenery Ramirez, Patria Reyes, Adriana Peguero, Sergio Cid, Lilian Tejada and Ramón perez Reyes.
Judges: José Monegro, Mario Rivadulla and Máximo Jiménez

ABELARDO RODRÍGUEZ URDANETA PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD

Color:

– First Place: “Fiesta y mañana Gallo,” by Francisco Fortunato

– Finalist: “Mirada que refleja una vida,” Danisel Cueto

– Honorable Mention: “Pa’guandulito,” by Francisco Fortunato

Black and White:

– First Place: “Retrato a Yolanda,” Francisco Fortunato

– Finalist: “Después de la descarga,” by Domingo Marte

– Honorable Mention: “Forma y ser,” by Clifford Mariano

Digital Photography:

– First Place: “Reminiscencia,” by Danisel Cueto

– Finalist: “Minions,” by Nehemías Alvino Castro

Honorable Mention:
– “Luto,”by Martín Rodríguez
– “Parallax,” by Waldo Rubén
Judges: Mariano Hernández, Domingo Batista and Mayra Johson