Nominations open for 13th Gabo Award (Latin America)

In this sense, the 2025 Gabo Award seeks stories that not only expose vileness and abuse, but also exalt the resilience, beauty and humanity that emerge even in the worst circumstances. The award aims to highlight inspiring narratives: stories that, from excellent journalism, illuminate and give hope, because in the craft of narrating the facts there is room for denunciation, but also for encounter, salvation and love.

This thirteenth edition of the Gabo Prize is not only a recognition of the most outstanding journalism of the past year, but also the first step towards an open and multi-sector dialogue on the future of journalism; an opportunity to rethink the link between journalism and democracy, and to strengthen a journalism that reconciles, empowers and defends the truth. Even in the most adverse situations, journalism lives. And as long as it lives, there will always be hope.

The Gabo Award will recognize this journalism in Bogotá, Colombia, within the framework of the 13th Gabo Festival, which will take place from July 25 to 27, 2025. It will do so through five competition categories, which in the last edition received a total of 2,170 applications for journalistic works from all over Latin America.

Categories

• The categories for the 2025 Gabo Award are:
  • Text: for the author or authors of the best work of written journalism.
  • Photography: for the author or authors of the best photographic coverage work.
  • Audio: for the author or authors of the best work of audio journalism.
  • Image: for the author or authors of the best journalistic work in audiovisual media, video, animation or other forms of digital visualization.
  • Coverage: for the author or authors of the best work on news, research and current affairs in any type of medium or language.

Funding Information

• In each of the five categories, the winner will receive as a trophy a copy of the sculpture Gabriel, created by the Colombian artist Antonio Caro, a certificate of accreditation and the gross sum of thirty-five million Colombian pesos ($35,000,000), which will be paid, after deducting applicable taxes, by bank transfer to an account in his/ her name, within sixty (60) days following the award.

Evaluation Criteria

• To evaluate and make their decision, the juries of the categories will be based on the materials received and will follow the following essential criteria:
  • The narrative quality and news value of the stories. The innovation or originality in the way of telling the stories and approaching them and the audiences.
  • Own research to unravel hidden facts or understand complex processes.
  • Journalistic independence and professional ethical values reflected the works.
  • The plurality, contrast and verification of the sources used. The precision and rigor in the treatment of the facts.
• Additionally, they will take into account:
  • The clarity and depth of the story.
  • The risk and difficulty in telling true facts.
  • The commitment to quality information and the idea of public service.
  • Journalism.
  • The impact generated by the publication of the work.
  • It will be positively valued that at least half of the images nominated in a photographic series have been distributed to mass audiences through the media or distribution platforms.

Application Requirements

• Works composed of a series of publications may submit a maximum of ten (10) pieces to be evaluated in the contest. In the case of the Photography category, each image must include a caption, with the following information:
  • Identification of the characters that appear in the photograph (from left to right).
  • Place where the event is occurring.
  • Description of what is happening in the image and why it is happening.
  • Date of the events.
  • Journalistic works must have been published in any country in the Americas or the Iberian Peninsula and must have been created and/or produced in Spanish or Portuguese (translations are not valid). However, if they meet the other requirements, works published in other countries by international agencies or media that are aimed at Spanish and Portuguese-speaking audiences may also be entered into the competition.
  • Exceptionally, in the case of the Photography category, the submitted works are not limited by the language of publication, but must have been disseminated and disseminated to a significant audience in the Americas, Spain and Portugal. In the case of photography works published by agencies, the images must have been distributed through media outlets and hosted in publications, websites, magazines or other channels in these same regions.
  • Individual application: each competing journalist can apply for a maximum of two works: one of individual authorship and another as part of a collective work.
  • Collective application: a journalistic team may submit a maximum of two works. It is considered to be the same team if, in the second work, the same authors of the first work appear or at least 60% of them.
  • The Technical Secretariat of the Award will review the data and credits of the submitted works and may request additional information or perform the necessary verification to confirm the authorship of this work.
  • Series of works are eligible, but fixed sections of a medium are not considered series. For a series to be eligible, at least 70% of the submitted content must have been published between February 29, 2024, and February 17, 2025.
  • Texts and series of texts must not exceed a total of 15,000 words.

For more information, visit Gabo Foundation.