The 2021 Maria Moors Cabot Award Winners
Columbia Journalism School announced the latest winners of the Maria Moors Cabot Prize for journalists over their careers for outstanding reporting on the Americas.
The 2021 Cabot Prize winners are Eliane Brum, freelancer, Brazil; Adela Navarro Bello, ZETA, Mexico; Mary Beth Sheridan, The Washington Post, United States; and Adriana Zehbrauskas, photojournalist, United States/Brazil.
This year, for the first time in its history, the Cabot Prizes will honor an all female slate of winners: four women journalists will receive gold medals. In addition, the Cabot Jury selected two 2021 Special Citation recipients that honor courageous reporting, also by women: Regina Martínez Pérez and The Cartel Project, and the news website Contracorriente, Honduras.
The Cabot Prizes honor journalists and news organizations for career excellence and coverage of the Western Hemisphere that furthers inter-American understanding. Godfrey Lowell Cabot of Boston founded the Maria Moors Cabot Prizes as a memorial to his wife in 1938. They are the oldest international journalism awards.
“With threats against the press on the rise in the Americas, including physical attacks and cyber-harassment targeting women reporters, I welcome the Cabot Jury’s selection of four outstanding female journalists to receive this year’s Cabot Prizes,” said Columbia President Lee C. Bollinger. “On behalf of the entire University, I would like to offer my congratulations and my thanks to the honorees for their talent and their courage.”
“From fearlessly investigating government corruption and drug cartels to documenting the underrepresented and holding leaders accountable, all of our 2021 honorees further our understanding among the Americas through news and images,” said Cabot Board Chair Rosental Alves. “These four journalists provide new models of excellence in the estimable tradition of the Maria Moors Cabot Prizes.”
Each winner will receive a gold medal and $5,000 honorarium. The 2021 Cabot Prize winners and Special Citation recipients will be celebrated on Tuesday, October 12.