May 9, 2019
Lorena Gomez (GCL 2019, Colombia), Best Radio Story for "On the Banks of Sangoyaco"
Lorena Gomez, GCL 2019 from Colombia, was awarded the Best Radio Story Award for "On the Banks of the Sangoyaco", a co-production with Joaquin Uribe, which retells the 2017 Mocoa avalanche and its aftermath.
For the last 12 years, the journal SEMANA of Colombia, together with Grupo Argos, the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), presents the journalism prize "The country retold from the regions" that seeks to recognize the work of Colombian journalists and researchers. The jury was made up of John Otis, correspondent of the Wall Street Journal and NPR in Colombia; Néstor Morales, director of Mañanas Blu; Martha Ortiz, director of El Colombiano, Álvaro Sierra, director of France 24 in Colombia, Nora Sanín, former director of Andiarios, journalist Héctor Rincón and Cristina Castro, director of Semana.com
On March 31, 2017 torrential flooding hit the city of Mocoa, Putumayo. The disaster left hundreds dead and completely destroyed several neighborhoods. In those early days, Mocoa was the center of attention, but time passed and little by little the tragedy was forgotten. Months later we returned to make this radial chronicle. We wanted to reconstruct the story of what happened that night (Cap 1. "The Avalanche"), and understand the possible causes of this event (Cap 2. "Natural Disaster?"), and listen to the voices of the Mocoanos, how they were recovering, how they perceived the government actions in the process of rebuilding the city and how they imagined their future (Cap 3. "Apparent normality"). We produced three chapters in which we address these and other issues. "On the banks of the Sangoyaco" is our attempt to save from oblivion an event that split the history of Mocoa in two, to give voice to a community that suffered and continues to live its effects, and to raise awareness about the importance of understanding our relationship with nature and the way we inhabit the territories. It is also a sound experience that sets the living space of the Mocoanos, and seeks to connect listeners with the different layers of a reality that still overwhelms us." Joaquin Uribe and Lorena Gomez
Best Radio Story: Lorena Gómez and Joaquín Uribe Martínez with "On the Banks of Sangoyaco"
Story promoted by the collective Mocoa from the Base in collaboration with the production company Pausar. Realization and edition of Lorena Gómez and Joaquín Uribe. Field production of Rocío Ortiz. Music and sound design by Mateo Barrios
Testimonials: Rosa Erazo, Giovanny Muñoz, Víctor Espinoza, Mauricio Valencia, María Cerón, Amparo Andrade, Alexander Naranjo, Laura Montoya, Luz Erazo, Susana Quinchoa and Isabel Erazo, Mirella Imbachí, Martín Pantoja, Francisco Rivas, Hermes Guerrero, Edgar Torres, Rocío Ortíz , Jesús Becerra and Patricia Guerrero
Songs: "Palomita Cuculí", composition by Francisco Paredes Herrera (played by Rosa and Isabel Erazo) and "Huerfanitos de la avalancha", composed and interoperated by Danny Durango
Radio quotations: Speech by Juan Manuel Santos Taken from the Youtube Channel of the Presidency of the Republic, Fragment of the report of the Time channel, Interview with Sorrel Aroca taken from Blu Radio.
You can listen to the report in this link
Read the full article here (in Spanish)