Antonio Pelayo, David Alandete, Cécile Thibaud, Sebastián Álvaro, the Association of European Journalists and the documentary ‘Mortal y Rosa’ about Francisco Umbral, winners of the 2025 Journalism Awards from the International Press Club

Antonio Pelayo, current correspondent for Antena 3 in the Vatican; David Alandete, correspondent for ABC, Telemadrid and COPE in the United States; Cécile Thibaud, correspondent in Spain for the French economic newspaper Les Echos; Sebastián Álvaro, director of the programme Al filo de lo imposible; the Association of European Journalists and the documentary short film ‘Francisco Umbral: Mortal y Rosa’ will be honoured by the International Press Club (CIP), according to an announcement by the Board of Directors, chaired by Javier Fernández Arribas, director of atalayar.com. 

The International Press Club will present Antonio Pelayo with the ‘Professional Career Award. Salou, Playa de Europa’ for his excellent work as a correspondent since 1976, when he was appointed correspondent for the newspaper Ya in Paris, where he remained for nine years and became president of the Foreign Press Association in France for two years. 

In 1986, he moved to Rome to continue his work as a correspondent. Since 1990, he has worked for Antena 3, covering news related to the Vatican and the Catholic Church. Throughout his career, he has accompanied Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis on numerous international trips. His work on the death of Pope Francis and his coverage of the Conclave and enthronement of the new Pope Leo XIV are particularly noteworthy. 

David Alandete will receive the ‘Best Spanish Correspondent Award’ for his brilliant multimedia coverage in Washington before and after Donald Trump's arrival at the White House for the newspaper ABC, the COPE radio station and Telemadrid. With more than twenty years of experience, he is a specialist in international politics and disinformation, has reported from conflict zones such as Syria and Afghanistan, and has interviewed numerous world leaders. His work has been recognised by institutions such as the European Union, NATO and the United States Senate. 

Cécile Thibaud will receive the ‘Best Foreign Correspondent in Spain Award’ for her work over more than 24 years in Spain. A correspondent for Les Echos, L'Express, La Tribune de Genève, Sud-Ouest and Planet-Labor, Thibaud also contributes to Challenges, Liaisons Sociales and Fashion Daily-News, among others. 

The ‘Journalism on the Edge Award. European University’ goes to Sebastián Álvaro, director of the Spanish television programme Al filo de lo imposible (On the Edge of the Impossible), in which he has narrated events and phenomena beyond the imagination, becoming a guide for millions of viewers who, thanks to his mediation, have had access to knowledge of the most incredible and remote places on the planet. Since the spring of 1981, when he made his first expedition to the Himalayas, he has devised, organised and led more than 200 expeditions and explorations, involving more than 1,500 specialists, while also making more than 300 documentaries and hundreds of trips to the six continents and the most unknown, rugged, inaccessible and wild places on Earth. He has recounted and shared all these experiences through documentaries, photographs, books, lectures and articles. 

The Association of European Journalists receives the ‘Major International Impact Award’, with its president, Diego Carcedo, and its secretary general, Miguel Ángel Aguilar, at the helm, for its tireless work over almost half a century in favour of the construction of Europe, while also promoting the work of numerous Spanish and foreign journalists inside and outside Spain through seminars, exhibitions, debates, books and the awards it organises every year. Its honorary president is King Felipe VI, and its international seminars on security and defence, Europe, Latin America, plural Spain, plural Catalonia, and journalism stand out, as do the Cuco Cerecedo Award, the Salvador de Madariaga European Awards and the KPMG/Rosa del Río Economic Award. 

The ‘Documentary Journalism Award’ goes to the documentary ‘Mortal y Rosa’, directed by Sonia Tercero Ramiro, with the participation of María España, widow of the writer, which comments on the figure of the master columnist Francisco (Paco) Umbral, as well as novelist, poet, biographer and essayist, who died 18 years ago. It is actually a short film based on the work of the same name by Francisco Umbral. This short film commemorates the 50th anniversary of the publication of the novel and was released in May 2025. Umbral's work, Mortal y Rosa, is an elegy to his deceased son, in which the author reflects on life, death and mourning. 

The CIP International Journalism Awards will be presented on 30 October at 6.30 p.m. in the Cecilio Rodríguez Gardens, Paseo de Uruguay, 5, in Madrid (Retiro Park). 

During this event, the Foreign Press Correspondents' Association (ACPE) Awards, the Ibero-American Press Correspondents' Association (ACPI) Awards, the Arab Journalists and Writers Association (APEAE) Award and the Pan-African Press Association Award will also be presented.