Jorge Rivas Receives the National Prize for Cultural Journalism

April 7, 2022

The National Prize for Cultural Journalism José Antonio Fernández de Castro, for lifetime achievement, was awarded to journalist and art critic Jorge Rivas Rodríguez, of the newspaper Trabajadores, who was selected from among 45 nominated professionals by more than 60 institutions in the sector, as well as by artistic organizations, websites and media outlets throughout the country.

Rivas, recipient of the National Culture Distinction and head of the cultural section of Trabajadores for 38 consecutive years, received the prestigious award from the hands of Ricardo Ronquillo Bello, President of the Union of Journalists of Cuba, who highlighted his years of dedication to cultural journalism, while emphasizing the current challenges of this area of island press, in which digital platforms and social networks play an important role, where in-depth opinion and criticism on artistic and cultural topics must prevail.

The prestigious writer, critic and journalist Pedro de la Hoz, also vice president of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac), presided over the jury, which was made up, furthermore, by Omar Valiño, Jaime Yoan Batista, Mireya Castañeda, Reynaldo Cedeño, Yuris Nórido and Joaquin Borges Triana.

De la Hoz announced the Prize for Cultural Journalism, an occasion in which he referred to the difficult task of the jury in charge of evaluating a record number of nominations from outstanding colleagues from throughout the nation, while he noted the significance of the valuable annual recognition created by the Ministry of Culture in 1999 with the purpose of recognizing journalists distinguished in the work of cultural promotion and in the defense of our culture.

Upon receiving the award, Rivas Rodríguez emphasized the rigor that has characterized the jury's work in each of its editions, while praising the creation of this incentive by the Ministry of Culture. "It is an incentive that commits me even more to Cuban journalism and culture," he said.

Journalist and cultural promoter Alexis Triana, director of the Center for Cultural Communication of the Ministry of Culture of Cuba (Creart), referred to the broad participation of journalists working in the cultural sector throughout the country, a record figure that made the work of the jurors more arduous, and meant that this year's prize was selected, by unanimous decision, from among eight finalists of great prestige in the sector: José Do Santos, Loly Estévez, Julio Molina, Luis Toledo Sande, Rubén Rodríguez, Mery Delgado, Vivian Martínez Tabares and Jorge Rivas Rodríguez.

José Antonio Fernández de Castro was a distinguished journalist, writer, diplomat and lover of historical research, who directed the literary page of the Diario de la Marina (1927-1929), from which he was a great promoter of avant-garde literature, while collaborating with various progressive publications in Latin America. He belonged to the generation of intellectuals of the so-called Grupo Minorista, in the 1920s of the past century, and promoted the renewal of artistic languages, the redefinition of authentic values of national culture and the rescue of popular traditions in Cuba.