# Maria Moors Cabot Prizes

The Maria Moors Cabot Prizes are the oldest international awards in the field of journalism. They are presented each fall by the Trustees of Columbia University to journalists in the Western hemisphere who are viewed as having made a significant contributions to upholding freedom of the press in the Americas and Inter-American understanding. Since 2003, the prize can be awarded to an organization instead of an individual.

## History

The American Boston industrialist and philanthropist, Godfrey Lowell Cabot, who founded the Cabot Corporation and was also a major benefactor of both MIT and Harvard, where the general science library is named in his honor, established the Maria Moors Cabot Prizes in 1938, in memory of his wife. The prizes have been awarded annually since 1939, by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, on recommendation of the dean of the Graduate School of Journalism and the Cabot Prize Board, which is composed of journalists and educators.

## Board

The awards board consists of the following persons:
Tracy Wilkinson, from the Los Angeles Times where she covered the Iraq War, among others.
Carlos Dada, Salvadoran journalist, founder and director of El Faro. He won the Maria Moors Cabot Prize in 2011.
John Dinges, The Godfrey Lowell Cabot Professor of Journalism at Columbia University is an author and journalist specializing in Latin America. He received a Maria Moors Cabot Prizes medal in 1992.
Juan Enriquez Cabot, Authority on economic and political impacts of life sciences. Best-selling author; speaker; investor/co-founder in multiple start up companies; board member for both private and public companies/non-profits. Former founding Director of Life Sciences Project at Harvard Business School.
June Carolyn Erlick, editor-in-chief of ReVista, the Harvard Review of Latin America.
Gustavo Gorritti, Peruvian journalist, the founder of lDL Reporteros. He is a recipient of a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University and a winner of the Maria Moors Cabot Prize in 1992 and the FNPI Gabriel García Marquez award. Expert in Peruvian internal war and anti corruption investigation.
Carlos Lauría, Americas Program Coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Julia Preston, national correspondent for The New York Times. Preston received a Maria Moors Cabot Prize in 1997.
María Teresa Ronderos, Serves as Director of VerdadAbierta.com. Ronderos is an editorial advisor to Semana. She received the King of Spain Ibero-American Award in 1997 and received a Maria Moors Cabot Prize in 2007.
Paulo Sotero, director of the Brazil Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.

## Recipients

Three to four medalists from the United States, Latin America, and Canada are selected each year. Prize winners receive the Cabot medal and a $5,000 honorarium, plus travel expenses to New York City and hotel accommodations for the presentation ceremony.
As of 2014, 273 Cabot gold medals and 56 special citations have been awarded to journalists from more than 30 countries in the Americas.
| Year | Honorees | Country |
| 2021 | Eliane Brum | Brazil |
| 2021 | Adela Navarro Bello | Mexico |
| 2021 | Mary Beth Sheridan | United States |
| 2021 | Adriana Zehbrauskas | United States/ Brazil |
| 2021 | Regina Martínez Pérez and The Cartel Project | Honduras |
| 2021 | Contracorriente | Honduras |
| 2020 | Ricardo Calderón Villegas | Colombia |
| 2020 | Patrícia Campos Mello | Brazil |
| 2020 | Stephen Ferry | United States |
| 2020 | Carrie Kahn | United States |
| 2019 | Angela Kocherga | United States |
| 2019 | Pedro Xavier Molina | Nicaragua |
| 2019 | Boris Muñoz | United States |
| 2019 | Marcela Turati | Mexico |
| 2018 | Hugo Alconada Mon | Argentina |
| 2018 | Jacqueline Charles | United States |
| 2018 | Graciela Mochkofsky | United States |
| 2018 | Fernando Rodrigues | Brazil |
| 2018 | Meridith Kohut | United States |
| 2017 | Martín Caparrós | Argentina |
| 2017 | Dorrit Harazim | Brazil |
| 2017 | Nick Miroff | United States |
| 2017 | Mimi Whitefield | United States |
| 2016 | Rodrigo Abd | Peru |
| 2016 | Rosental Alves | United States |
| 2016 | Margarita Martínez | Colombia |
| 2016 | Óscar Martínez | El Salvador |
| 2016 | Marina Walker Guevara and the Panama Papers Reporting Team | United States |
| 2015 | Lucas Mendes | Brazil |
| 2015 | Raúl Peñaranda | Bolivia |
| 2015 | Simon Romero | United States |
| 2015 | Mark Stevenson | United States |
| 2015 | Ernesto Londoño | United States |
| 2014 | Frank Bajak | United States |
| 2014 | Paco Calderón | Mexico |
| 2014 | Giannina Segnini | Costa Rica |
| 2014 | Tracy Wilkinson | United States |
| 2014 | Tamoa Calzadilla | Venezuela |
| 2014 | Laura Weffer | Venezuela |
| 2013 | Jon Lee Anderson | United States |
| 2013 | Donna de Cesare | United States |
| 2013 | Mauri König | Brazil |
| 2013 | Alejandro Santos Rubino | United States |
| 2012 | Teodoro Petkoff | Venezuela |
| 2012 | Miguel Ángel Bastenier | Colombia |
| 2012 | Juan Forero | United States |
| 2012 | David Luhnow | United States |
| 2012 | El Universo | Ecuador |
| 2011 | Arizona Daily Star | United States |
| 2011 | El Diario de Juárez | Mexico |
| 2011 | Ríodoce | Mexico |
| 2011 | Carlos Dada | El Salvador |
| 2011 | Jean-Michel Leprince | Canada |
| 2010 | Tyler Bridges | United States |
| 2010 | Carlos Fernando Chamorro | Nicaragua |
| 2010 | Norman Gall | United States |
| 2010 | Joaquim Ibarz | Spain |
| 2010 | Signal FM radio station | Haiti |
| 2010 | CNN and Anderson Cooper 360° | United States |
| 2009 | Anthony DePalma | United States |
| 2009 | Christopher Hawley | United States |
| 2009 | Merval Pereira | Brazil |
| 2009 | Yoani Sánchez | Cuba |
| 2008 | Carmen Aristegui Flores | Mexico |
| 2008 | Sam Quiñones | United States |
| 2008 | Gustavo Sierra | Argentina |
| 2008 | Michael Smith | United States |
| 2007 | Alfredo Corchado | Mexico |
| 2007 | José Vales | Mexico |
| 2007 | María Teresa Ronderos | Colombia |
| 2007 | Gary T. Marx | United States |
| 2006 | Mario Vargas Llosa | Peru |
| 2006 | Ginger Thompson | United States |
| 2006 | José Hamilton Ribeiro | Brazil |
| 2006 | Matt Moffet | United States |
| 2005 | Miriam Leitão | Brazil |
| 2005 | Tim Padgett | United States |
| 2005 | Mabel Rehnfeldt | Paraguay |
| 2005 | S. Lynne Walker | United States |
| 2005 | La Nación | Costa Rica |
| 2004 | Gerardo Reyes (journalist) | United States |
| 2004 | Daniel Santoro | Argentina |
| 2004 | Elena Poniatowska | Mexico |
| 2004 | Joel Millman | United States |
| 2004 | Alberto Ibargüen | United States |
| 2003 | João Antônio Barros | Brazil |
| 2003 | Raúl Kraiselburd | Argentina |
| 2003 | Mac Margolis | United States |
| 2003 | Michael Reid | United Kingdom |
| 2003 | Sociedad de Periodistas Manuel Márquez Sterling | Cuba |
| 2002 | David C. Adams | United States |
| 2002 | Sergio Luis Carreras | Argentina |
| 2002 | Michèle Montas | Haiti |
| 2002 | Robert J. Rivard | United States |
| 2001 | Monica Gonzalez | Chile |
| 2001 | Jorge Ramos | United States |
| 2001 | Clóvis Rossi | Brazil |
| 2001 | Sebastian R. Rotella | United States |
| 2000 | Eloy O. Aguilar | Mexico |
| 2000 | Paul Knox | Canada |
| 2000 | Francisco Santos | Colombia |
| 2000 | Ricardo Uceda | Peru |
| 2000 | Lloyd Williams | Jamaica |
| 1999 | James McClatchy | United States |
| 1999 | Raúl Rivero | Cuba |
| 1999 | Linda Robinson | United States |
| 1999 | Juan Tamayo | United States |
| 1999 | Jorge Zepeda Patterson | Mexico |
| 1998 | Jesús Blancornelas | Mexico |
| 1998 | Edmundo Cruz Vílchez | Peru |
| 1998 | Andrés Oppenheimer | United States |
| 1998 | William Lawrence Rohter, Jr. | United States |
| 1997 | Gerardo Bedoya | Colombia |
| 1997 | José de Córdoba | United States |
| 1997 | Jorge Fontevecchia | Argentina |
| 1997 | Julia Preston | United States |
| 1997 | Enrique Santos Castillo | Colombia |
| 1997 | Hernando Santos Castillo | Colombia |
| 1996 | Dudley Althaus | United States |
| 1996 | Ramón Garza García | Mexico |
| 1996 | Timothy Jay Johnson | United States |
| 1996 | Eduardo Ulibarri | Costa Rica |
| 1995 | Roberto Eisenmann | Panama |
| 1995 | Douglas Farah | United States |
| 1995 | Canute James | Jamaica |
| 1995 | Geri Smith | United States |
| 1995 | José Zamora Marroquín | Guatemala |
| 1994 | James Brooke | United States |
| 1994 | Mauricio Funes | El Salvador |
| 1994 | Susan Meiselas | United States |
| 1994 | Oscar Serrat | Argentina |
| 1993 | Pamela Constable | United States |
| 1993 | Manuel de Dios | United States |
| 1993 | Edward Seaton | United States |
| 1993 | Patricia Verdugo | Chile |
| 1992 | Danilo Arbilla | Uruguay |
| 1992 | Sam Dillon | United States |
| 1992 | John Dinges | United States |
| 1992 | Gustavo Gorriti | Peru |
| 1991 | Ricardo Arnt | Brazil |
| 1991 | Gilberto Dimenstein | Brazil |
| 1991 | Otavio Frias Filho | Brazil |
| 1991 | Eduardo Gallardo | Chile |
| 1991 | Alejandro Junco de la Vega | Mexico |
| 1990 | Richard Boudreaux | United States |
| 1990 | Huascar Cajias Kauffman | Bolivia |
| 1990 | Elsie Etheart | Haiti |
| 1990 | Alma Guillermoprieto | Mexico |
| 1990 | Carlos Lins da Silva | Brazil |
| 1990 | Lucia Newman | United States |
| 1989 | Felipe López Caballero | Colombia |
| 1989 | Humberto Rubín Schvartzman | Paraguay |
| 1989 | Juan M. Vazquez | United States |
| 1989 | Arturo Villar | United States |
| 1988 | Nicholas Clark Asheshov | Peru |
| 1988 | Roberto Civita | Brazil |
| 1988 | Stephen Kinzer | United States |
| 1988 | Hermenegildo Sábat | Argentina |
| 1987 | Luis Camacho (posthumous) | Colombia |
| 1987 | Guillermo Cano Isaza (posthumous) | Colombia |
| 1987 | Raúl Echavarría Barrientos | Colombia |
| 1987 | Guy Gugliotta | United States |
| 1987 | Luis Levy | Brazil |
| 1987 | Roberto Muller | Brazil |
| 1987 | Paulo Sotero | Brazil |
| 1986 | Dario Arizmendi | Colombia |
| 1986 | Alfonso Chardy | United States |
| 1986 | Hugh O'Shaughnessy | United Kingdom |
| 1986 | Julio Rajneri | Argentina |
| 1986 | Guillermo Sánchez Borbón | Panama |
| 1986 | Gavin Scott | United States |
| 1985 | Shirley Christian | United States |
| 1985 | Dery Dyer | Costa Rica |
| 1985 | Richard Dyer | Costa Rica |
| 1985 | William H. Heath | United States |
| 1985 | Rafael Herrera | Dominican Republic |
| 1985 | Andrew Morrison | Guyana |
| 1985 | Aldo Zuccolillo | Paraguay |
| 1984 | William Buzenberg | United States |
| 1984 | Kenneth Gordon | Trinidad and Tobago |
| 1984 | John Hoagland (posthumous) | United States |
| 1984 | Harold Hoyte | Barbados |
| 1984 | Alister Hughes | Grenada |
| 1984 | Cynthia Hughes | Grenada |
| 1984 | Frank Manitzas | United States |
| 1983 | Jack Fendell | United States |
| 1983 | Emilio Filippi | Chile |
| 1983 | Everett Martin | United States |
| 1983 | Marcel Neidergang | France |
| 1982 | Frances Grant | United States |
| 1982 | William R. Long | United States |
| 1982 | Daniel Samper | Colombia |
| 1981 | Karen DeYoung | United States |
| 1981 | Marlise Simons | Netherlands |
| 1981 | Stanley Swinton | United States |
| 1981 | Jacobo Timerman | Argentina |
| 1980 | Richard T. Baker | United States |
| 1980 | Guido Fernández | Costa Rica |
| 1980 | Penny Lernoux | United States |
| 1980 | Alan Riding | United States |
| 1980 | Bill Stewart (posthumous) | United States |
| 1979 | Leslie Ashenheim | Jamaica |
| 1979 | Jerry Hannifin | United States |
| 1979 | Andrew Heiskell | United States |
| 1979 | Jeremiah O'Leary | United States |
| 1979 | Juan Zuleta Ferrer | Colombia |
| 1978 | Joseph Benham | United States |
| 1978 | Carlos Castelo Branco | Brazil |
| 1978 | Robert Cox | Argentina |
| 1978 | Carl Migdail | United States |
| 1977 | Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal | Nicaragua |
| 1977 | Jonathan Kandell | United States |
| 1977 | Joseph A. Taylor | United States |
| 1977 | Anita von Kahler Gumpert | United States |
| 1976 | Robert U. Brown | United States |
| 1976 | Bernard Diederich | United States |
| 1976 | Germán Ornes | Dominican Republic |
| 1976 | Jorge Remonda-Ruibal | Argentina |
| 1975 | Walter Everett (journalist) | United States |
| 1975 | Norman Ingrey | Argentina |
| 1975 | David Kraiselburd (posthumous) | Argentina |
| 1975 | Sam Summerlin | United States |
| 1975 | Enrique Zileri Gibson | Peru |
| 1974 | Donald Bohning | United States |
| 1974 | William Montalbano | United States |
| 1974 | Fernando Pedreira | Brazil |
| 1973 | David F. Belnap | United States |
| 1973 | Donald Casey | United States |
| 1973 | Diana Julio de Massot | Argentina |
| 1972 | Pedro Beltrán | Peru |
| 1972 | Tom Steithorst | United States |
| 1972 | Arturo Uslar Pietri | Venezuela |
| 1971 | Juan Carlos Colombres (Landrú) | Argentina |
| 1971 | Georgie Anne Geyer | United States |
| 1971 | Julio Scherer García | Mexico |
| 1970 | Alberto Dines | Brazil |
| 1970 | John Goshko | United States |
| 1970 | John Harbron | Canada |
| 1969 | Alceu Amoroso Lima | Brazil |
| 1969 | Edward W. Barrett | United States |
| 1969 | George Beebe | United States |
| 1969 | Luis Gabriel Cano | Colombia |
| 1968 | Robert Bellerez | United States |
| 1968 | Alberto Gainza Paz | Argentina |
| 1968 | Guillermo Gutiérrez | United States |
| 1968 | Argentina Hills | Puerto Rico |
| 1968 | José Joaquin Salcedo | Colombia |
| 1967 | Peter Aldor | Colombia |
| 1967 | James S. Copley | United States |
| 1967 | James Goodsell | United States |
| 1967 | M.F. Nascimento Brito | Brazil |
| 1967 | Ramón J. Velásquez | Venezuela |
| 1966 | Alberto Cellario | United States |
| 1966 | Agustín Edwards Eastman | Chile |
| 1966 | Paul Kidd (journalist) | Canada |
| 1965 | Gesford Fine | United States |
| 1965 | Roberto Marinho | Brazil |
| 1965 | Victoria Ocampo | Argentina |
| 1965 | Paul Sanders | United States |
| 1964 | Hugo Fernández Artucio | Uruguay |
| 1964 | Bertram Johansson | United States |
| 1964 | Enrique Nores | Argentina |
| 1964 | Virginia Prewett | United States |
| 1963 | Germán Arciniegas | Colombia |
| 1963 | William Barlow | United States |
| 1963 | Jorge Fernández | Ecuador |
| 1963 | Juan de Onis | United States |
| 1963 | Juan Valmaggia | Argentina |
| 1962 | Raúl Fontaina | Uruguay |
| 1962 | John R. Herbert | United States |
| 1962 | Rodolfo Junco de la Vega | Mexico |
| 1962 | John Shively Knight | United States |
| 1961 | Alejandro Carrión | Ecuador |
| 1961 | Fernando Gómez Martínez | Colombia |
| 1961 | Albert Nevins | United States |
| 1961 | Rómulo O'Farrill | Mexico |
| 1961 | John T. O'Rourke | United States |
| 1960 | James Canel | United States |
| 1960 | José Dutriz, Jr. | El Salvador |
| 1960 | Rodolfo Luque | Argentina |
| 1960 | William M. Pepper, Jr. | United States |
| 1960 | Eduardo Santos | Colombia |
| 1959 | Ricardo Castro Beeche | Costa Rica |
| 1959 | Clement Hellyer | United States |
| 1959 | Juan A. Ramírez | Uruguay |
| 1959 | Tad Szulc | United States |
| 1959 | Hernane Tavares de Sá | Brazil |
| 1958 | Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta | Mexico |
| 1958 | Eduardo Cardenas | United States |
| 1958 | Jesús Hernández Chapellín | Venezuela |
| 1958 | Miguel Angel Quevedo | Cuba |
| 1957 | Paulo Bittencourt | Brazil |
| 1957 | Luis Franzini | Uruguay |
| 1957 | Harry W. Frantz | United States |
| 1957 | John Shively Knight | United States |
| 1957 | Miguel Lanz Duret | Mexico |
| 1957 | Carlos Mantilla | Ecuador |
| 1957 | Roberto Marinho | Brazil |
| 1957 | Guillermo Martínez Márquez | Cuba |
| 1957 | Herbert Moses | Brazil |
| 1957 | John T. O'Rourke | United States |
| 1957 | René Silva Espejo | Chile |
| 1957 | James Geddes Stahlman | United States |
| 1957 | Tom Wallace | United States |
| 1956 | Carl W. Ackerman | United States |
| 1956 | Jesús Alvarez del Castillo | Mexico |
| 1956 | Roberto García Peña | Colombia |
| 1956 | Herbert Matthews | United States |
| 1956 | David Torino | Argentina |
| 1955 | Pedro Beltrán | Peru |
| 1955 | Breno Caldas | Brazil |
| 1955 | John Oliver LaGorce | United States |
| 1955 | Roberto Noble | Argentina |
| 1955 | A. T. Steele | United States |
| 1954 | Gabriel Cano | Colombia |
| 1954 | Sidney Fletcher | Jamaica |
| 1954 | Danton Jobim | Brazil |
| 1954 | Carlos Ramirez MacGregor | Venezuela |
| 1954 | Lloyd Statton | United States |
| 1953 | Crede Clahoun | United States |
| 1953 | Carlos Lacerda | Brazil |
| 1953 | Ismael Pérez Castro | Ecuador |
| 1953 | Arturo Schaerer | Paraguay |
| 1952 | Antonio Arias Bernal | Mexico |
| 1952 | Austregésilo de Athayde | Brazil |
| 1952 | Jorge Délano Frederick (Coke) | Chile |
| 1952 | Jules Dubois | United States |
| 1952 | Juan B. Fernández | Colombia |
| 1951 | Elmano Cardim | Brazil |
| 1951 | Julio Garzón | United States |
| 1951 | Ramón León | Venezuela |
| 1951 | Francisco María Núñez | Costa Rica |
| 1950 | John Brogan | United States |
| 1950 | María Constanza Huergo | Argentina |
| 1950 | Jesús María Pellín | Venezuela |
| 1950 | Joshua Powers | United States |
| 1950 | Ángel Ramos | Puerto Rico |
| 1949 | Milton Bracker | United States |
| 1949 | Eduardo Rodriguez Larreta | Uruguay |
| 1949 | José Santiago Castillo | Ecuador |
| 1948 | Manuel Cineros Sánchez | Peru |
| 1948 | Joseph L. Jones | United States |
| 1948 | Orlando Ribeiro Dantas | Brazil |
| 1948 | Alfredo Silva-Carballo | Chile |
| 1947 | Carlos Aramayo | Bolivia |
| 1947 | Alberto Lleras Camargo | Colombia |
| 1947 | David Vela | Guatemala |
| 1946 | Grant Dexter | Canada |
| 1946 | Lee Hills | United States |
| 1946 | Miguel Lanz Duret | Mexico |
| 1945 | Assis Chateaubriand | Brazil |
| 1945 | Luis Teófilo Nuñez | Venezuela |
| 1945 | Tom Wallace | United States |
| 1944 | Carlos Mantilla Ortega | Ecuador |
| 1944 | Albert McGeachy | Panama |
| 1944 | Jorge Pinto | El Salvador |
| 1943 | Pedro Cue | Cuba |
| 1943 | Rodrigo de Llano | Mexico |
| 1943 | Edward Tomlinson | United States |
| 1942 | Lorenzo Batlle Pacheco | Uruguay |
| 1942 | Luis Mitre | Argentina |
| 1941 | Paulo Bittencourt | Brazil |
| 1941 | Sylvia de Arruda Botelho Bittencourt | Brazil |
| 1941 | Carlos Dávila | Chile |
| 1941 | José Ignacio Rivero | Cuba |
| 1940 | Agustín Edwards Mac Clure | Chile |
| 1940 | James Irving Miller | United States |
| 1940 | Enrique Santos Montejo | Colombia |
| 1940 | Rafael Heliodoro Valle | Honduras |
| 1939 | Luis Miró Quesada de la Guerra | Peru |
| 1939 | José Santos Gollan | Argentina |

## Ceremony

The winners of the award are announced between May and July, and the prizes are presented by the President of Columbia University each fall, at a ceremony in the rotunda of Low Memorial Library.

## Yoani Sánchez case

In 2009, 34-year-old Cuban writer Yoani Sánchez became the first blogger to win the Maria Moors Cabot Prize. The award was given for her blog, Generación Y, which contained much criticism of the Cuban regime. Sánchez was denied an exit visa to travel to New York to receive her prize.