Isabel Valdés of El País, Raquel Martín of RTVE Audio and Eva Villegas of Canal Sur receive the 8th "Fundación Aliados" Awards for Journalism against Gender Violence

The journalists Isabel Valdés, gender correspondent for El País, Raquel Martín Alonso, head of Podcasting for RTVE Audio, and Eva Villegas, director of the programme "Los Reporteros" for Canal Sur Televisión, have received the 8th "Fundación Aliados" Journalism Awards against Gender Violence.  

The competition, which this year received 107 entries published in the Spanish media, aims to recognise and reward the good practices of professionals who contribute to the defence and dissemination of values against this social scourge. The three categories are endowed with a cash prize of 3,000 euros and a trophy. 

Isabel Valdés, winner in the WRITTEN MEDIA category for her work "Ahora sé que aquello no fue un sí", published in the newspaper El País, after receiving the award, thanked the Foundation for this prize, which she extended to the women and feminism who, in recent years, she stressed, have brought an end to the silence that exists with regard to male violence.  Valdés also alluded to the women who come forward and speak out, "without whom I would not be able to do my work" and how, of all male violence, sexual violence is the one that has been most highlighted in the media as a result of the "manada". She concluded by affirming that "it is vital" that the media continue to deal with these issues and asked FAPE for more journalists specialising in gender violence.

For her part, Raquel Martín, winner in RADIO/PODCAST, for "Somos Insumisas", a narrative podcast on chemical submission as a means of sexual aggression, said that her first contact with violence against women was through her sister, an emergency doctor, who told her about the increase in cases of chemical submission in Madrid, which led her to investigate at national level.  "There is only one way to put an end to this situation and that is education in values, at home, in schools, in all areas...We are all obliged to do so", she said. 

Eva Villegas received the award in the TELEVISION category for the report "Prohibido olvidar" (Forbidden to forget), which recovers the memory of Ana Orantes 25 years after a sexist murder that shocked this country and provoked an unprecedented social change. Villegas was accompanied by Antonio, the director, as she wished to dedicate this award to him and his entire team, and especially to Fran Orantes, Ana's son, "who opened his home in Granada to talk to me about her with great generosity and revealed to me the family's ordeal, but also the joy and strength of his mother". 

The journalist, who recounted the process of this report, also dedicated the award to Ana Orantes and all the women of her generation, "who lived and died working in their own way so that today we are freer. Ana changed the lives of women in this country and I hope that her sacrifice was not in vain".

A continuing struggle

The event, held at the headquarters of the Madrid Press Association, was attended by Ana Fernández Izquierdo, Director General for Equality and Against Gender Violence of the Madrid City Council, who congratulated the Foundation for these awards and the winners, and stressed that continuing to make progress in the fight against gender violence "is the responsibility of all of us", institutions, citizens and the media.  

Fernández Izquierdo highlighted some data, which she described as "devastating": more than 50% of women over the age of 16 have suffered gender-based violence; 52 women have been murdered this year and have left 51 orphaned children; 176,000 complaints have been filed for gender-based violence and, in the area of sexual violence, more than 17,000. 

She reiterated that it is important for the media to tell the story, but also how they tell things and the need for them to show a path of light to these women, also pointing out that there are networks of help and resources such as sheltered accommodation, comprehensive accompaniment, against sexual trafficking... 

Representing the jury, Miguel Ángel Noceda, president of the Federation of Spanish Journalists' Associations, said that he wished this prize did not exist, because it would mean that gender violence did not exist either, "but it does not, and one of the fronts to fight against this is journalism". Noceda used his speech to call on the political parties to support the initiative to put an end to the insults and aggressions received by journalists covering demonstrations in Ferraz and elsewhere, and he remembered the journalists who are dying in Gaza, Ukraine and Mexico.  

Finally, Almudena Fontecha, President of the Executive Committee of Allies for Integration, took advantage of the closing ceremony to reiterate the Foundation's commitment, to thank the Madrid Press Association and FAPE for their collaboration, and to congratulate the winners of this "simple, humble award, but full of affection for your work and commitment against violence against women".  

Fontecha, who asked the winners that this award should also go to the women behind them: their mothers, condemned all types of violence, especially against women, "it is the clearest example of the inequality that women experience in the world", she said, which prevents them from developing their freedoms. She also called for unity to "put an end to this scourge". 

She recalled the 1,237 women murdered by gender violence since 2023 and the 52 registered this year and, although she assured that we have come a long way, giving data on the achievements that women have been making not so long ago, such as voting, opening a current account or obtaining co-ownership of a farm (only 12 years ago), Fontecha reiterated that "we still have a long way to go as a society", a road not "of one against the other, but of all of us against gender violence".

The jury of the 8th Journalism Awards Against Gender Violence is made up of Almudena Fontecha, president of the Executive Committee of Fundación Aliados por la Integración, Miguel Ángel Noceda, president of the Federation of Associations of Journalists of Spain (FAPE), Alfonso Nasarre, director of Onda Madrid; Pilar Álvarez, head of Última Hora in 'El País'; Óscar Vázquez, deputy director of Antena3 Noticias; Raquel Benito, editor-in-chief of El Confidencial; Alfonso Rodríguez, director of Colpisa; Myriam Noblejas, journalist; and Javier Fernández Arribas, director of Atalayar and contributor to various media.