Leonel Fernández Presided Over the Eighth Presentation of the 2014 GFDD/ FUNGLODE Awards

The Executive Director of GFDD, Natasha Despotovic, participated in the awards ceremony in Santo Domingo

Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (Funglode), through their Center for Cultural Studies, presented the Annual Awards for Literature, Journalism, Photography and Audiovisuals corresponding to the year 2014.

The eighth edition of the awards was chaired by the former President of the Republic and President of Funglode, Leonel Fernández, along with Rafael Molina Morillo, Martha Checo, Basilio Belliard and the other members of the jury.

The awards and recognitions were presented by Dr. Fernández; Natasha Despotovic, Director of GDFF;
José Rafael Lantigua, director or the Center for Cultural Studies, and Catherine Florentino, Director of the Awards.

Vladimir Tatis Perez, winner of the first place of the "Juan Bosch" Short Story Award, delivered the appreciation remarks on behalf of the winners.
The "Voz de sol" music group, composed by Marcos Comprés, Luis José Santana, Rafael Prenza and José Micheli, provided
the music during the introduction of the event.

There were 500 works participating in the awards in the following categories: 199 in short stories; 18 in novel; 45 in poetry; 21 in journalism and 13 in essays. In the photography category there were 199 proposals: 92 in color; 76 in black and white and 31 in creative digital. In addition, 5 participated in the documentary category.

The winners of the first three places in almost every category won cash
prizes ranging from RD$25,000.00 up to RD$150,000.00.
In the novel, poetry, journalism, essays and short stories categories, in addition to the cash prize, the winners will have their works published by Editorial Funglode.

Awards
PEDRO MIR POETRY AWARD 
First Place: "Anversos" César Augusto
Zapata, Pen Name Desconocido Pérez.

Verdict:
"For its outstanding aesthetic values, which have well achieved a symbiosis of tradition and poetic art. On one hand, it shows in long-term strategy, thematic coherence on a rate of preferably transparent and harmonic imaging, while it does not detracts from the use of resources contrasts and paradoxes, from the creation of neologisms, i.e. constructions and
linguistic distortions that seek to impact the sensitivity of the readers with ideas summarized in one line. The title of this collection of poems, "Anversos" is loaded with symbolism, on the obvious reference to the literary genre (the "Verses"); it also proposes a two-way relationship of contradiction and adds: Front-Back, ie, both sides of a flat object. It is precisely what makes the book divided into halves: one, The Love of the Lost, and two, The
Lost love.

Jurors: 
León Félix Batista, León David, Fernando Cabrera

JUAN BOSCH SHORT STORY AWARD 
First Place: “Con la misma moneda”
Authored by Vladimir Tatis Pérez, Pen Name Monkey Blac
(“For
the strength of a story narrated with literary skills and good command of language”).

Second Place: “Serás para mí”
Keiselim authored by Keiselim A. Montás, Pen Name El Hijo de Doña Tatica.
("For its good handling of storytelling, with a suggestive treatment of the psychology of the
characters"). 

Third Place: "El último crepúsculo de Manuel Sangremezclada"
Authored by Olivier Lemaire Batista, Pen Name Caonabo.
("For its excellent setting of the epoch, its successful use of language and skill in the handling of situations”).

HONORABLE
MENTIONS:
"Morder la sonrisa, Boris" by José Beltrán Frías, Pen Name Lobo Hombre
"El relojero de Zúrich" Omar Mesón, Pen Name Arquímedes
“Nouvelle (la circuncisión de Lucifer)”, by José Fernández Caminero, Pen Name Demetrio
Rodriguez

Jurors: 
Armando Almánzar, Emilia Pereyra, Pedro Antonio Valdez.

FEDERICO GARCIA GODOY NOVEL AWARD 
First Place (Vacant)
Runners-Up:
“La vida y los tiempos”, by Rafael Antonio Tejada, Pen Name Alfa.
“El pingüino rojo”, by Jesús
Leonardo D’ Alessandro Martínez, Pen Name Pedro Cocolo.

Jurors: 
Marcio Veloz Maggiolo, Rafael García Romero, René Rodríguez Soriano.

PEDRO FRANCISCO BONÓ ESSAY AWARD
First Place: "El poder de la técnica: la estructura narrativa de la novela
‘Solo cenizas hallarás (Bolero)”.
Authored by: Fernando Alberto Berroa Aquino, Pen Name Dr. Bloom Barthes
Verdict:
("It’s a thoughtful analysis, documented and judiciously focused. Possibly, until now, no analyst of this novel has penetrated both the interiority of his characters, nor the technical resources employed by Pedro Vergés to arm
his work. This is a rigorous and original essay, that it utilizes a methodology of textual analysis from the structural foundations of the genre’s own novel. Its narrative is modern; it highlights the use of interior monologue, the hidden data, and intertextuality, the management of the narrative plot, tone and internal structure of the novel. The author or author relies on a voluminous and very adequate bibliography on literary theory and criticism, and history of Dominican and
Latin American literature ".)

Second Place: " La filosofía, ¿qué es y para qué sirve?" Ángel P. Polacio T, Pen Name, Paulino Polanco y Erlanga.
("Although written in simple and free of artifice style, its text is one of sober content. This essay connects the deeper aspects of philosophy, history and science with everyday
matters, bringing philosophy to the scope of readers that are not well documented in this matter. Write with freshness and ease and risks in their arguments and properly handles the philosophical concepts, in particular, epistemology, philosophy of science and the history of philosophy. ").

Third Place: “El discurso, una herramienta de poder”, by Melania Pérez Florentino, Pen Name La voz.
(“Expressive clarity, good command of syntax and freedom of ideas predominates in this essay. The author or authors establishes the different levels of discourse and communicative power of this tool, according to the intent of the sender, achieving this goal proposed: to persuade the receiver. It is a model of discourse analysis from the conceptions of Teun Van Dijk on this matter, who favors the critical discourse analysis based on ethnicity and cultural identity. It has a
linguistic approach that studies the speech as a weapon of power in the hands of the user of a specific language”).  
Jurors: 
Basilio Belliard, Franklin Gutiérrez, Manuel Núñez.

RAFAEL HERRERA JOURNALISM AWARD
First Place: “La colonia china en República
Dominicana”
Authored by: Javier Valdivia Olachee (Listín Diario).

(“An excellent story in four parts that reflect a rigorous historical research on one of the oldest foreign colonies settled in the country, renowned for its great diligence and entrepreneurial spirit made manifest through multiple businesses, especially in the commercial field. The work delves into the beginnings of Chinese immigration and
summarizes its further development until today, also reflecting the features and rooted cultural habits that this community maintained without prejudice to its integration in the host country. It should be noted the qualified sources of information attended by the author: two distinguished Dominican historians of Chinese origin, Mu-kien Adriana Sang Ben and José Chez Checo and Rosa Ng Báez, commercial representative of the RD to the People’s Republic
China”)

Second Place: “Juan Santiago, el pueblo del olvido”.
Authored by:  Yinett Santelises (Diario Libre).
(“Interesting series of successive reports that capture the reader’s interest, about which the author identifies as "the poorest municipality in the country," Juan Santiago, located in the border province of
Elías Piña. The testimony of several archetypes of its inhabitants-its social exclusion, poor living conditions, the daily challenge subsistence taken to its most precarious limits, charging his frustrated dreams and aspirations of a more dignified life, gives you a deep human monotone content to interesting journalistic work, and is a reflection of many other forgotten communities in the country that treasure misery and despair that unfolds the existence of a large
number of Dominicans”).

Third Place: “Madres adolescentes”.
Authored by: Saiury Calcaño Rodríguez  and Francis de la Cruz  (Listín Diario).
(“A very comprehensive and detailed overview that allows a broad view of the causes and consequences of this great social and human problem, which makes the RD in one of the countries
in the world where there is greater prevalence. The various reasons, often financial, are also a reflection of the crisis of the family institution, lack of guidance within the home and a system of adequate sex education in school”).

Special Mentions:
“Los de Allá/ Special Series”, by  Indhira Suero Acosta (Listín Diario).
“Los feminicidas, by Wanda Méndez  and Doris Pantaleón (Listín Diario).
“Contrabando de carbón en la frontera”, by Kirsis Díaz (Diario Libre).
“Adictos a las drogas”, by  Ana Lisania Batista Mateo (Diario Libre).

Jurors: 
Rafael Molina Morillo, José Báez Guerrero, Mario Rivadulla Carcedo.

MAX POU DOCUMENTARY AWARD
Unique Award: “El imperio de la comida
cocola”, by Ana Paula Reyes
(For submitting a tradition of great culinary value, which is part of our anthropological identity. By expressing a theme that portrays the contribution of immigrants and the Dominican cultural wealth, which is managed with careful audiovisual narrative and aesthetic consistent with the content treaty) 

Jurors:
René Fortunato,
Martha Checo, Félix Manuel Lora.

ABELARDO RODRIGUEZ URDANETA PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD
Color:
First Place: “Barriendo sueños” (Narciso Polanco) 
Second Place: “El niño exterior” (Kelvin
Naar) 
Mention: “A través de la ventana” (Eloy Pérez Báez)
Mention: “A contra luz” (Denisse Morales Pou).

Black and White:
First Place: “La niña que
nació de una larva” (Gabriel Sánchez)
Second Place: “Del machismo al feminicidio” (Kelvin Naar)
Mention: “Cocina de campo” (Renato David Soto)
Mention: “¿Por qué
él?” (José Joaquín Lama)

Creative Digital
First Place: “Mundo binario” (Luis Arias)
Second Place:
“Cuidemos la fuente” (Yamell Mateo Liriano)
Mention: “Transformación” (Margarita Mora Soler)
Mention: “Renaciendo” (Francisco Fortunato).

AUDIENCE AWARD:

 “Monocromo” (Miguel Cruz Reyes) Black and White Category

Jurors:
Félix Sepúlveda, Domingo Batista, Mayra Johnson.