Diario Libre reporter Vivian Jimenez won the grand prize in the annual travel writing awards organized by Occidental Hotels and the Dominican Travel Writing Association (Adompretur). To celebrate the winners, a dinner was held at the Hotel Embajador, attended by Dominican composer/singer Juan Luis Guerra, who also served as sponsor of the event.
Other winners this year are: Yaniris Lopez of the Listin Diario, in photography; Diulka Perez of Channel 39 in TV; Keidy Rodriguez for a documentary on Santo Domingo Invita (special mention for her camera man Daniel Fernandez). Aridio Perdomo of Hoy in Puerto Plata. TV program Santo Domingo Invita for its 35 years covering the tourism sector. Special mentions were given to Liliana Cepeda for her work in Puro Turismo; Ricardo Rojas for his photography for Diario Libre, and Orlando Barria for his work for the Spanish press agency, EFE.
Juan Ignacio Morales, El Artistico, designed the 2009 trophies.
In addition to the Juan Luis Guerra Foundation, other sponsors were Presidente Beer, Cicom, Grupo Vicini, El Artistico, Banco de Reservas, American Airlines, Omar CD’s System, Inventivas y Prosonido, Skene and Don Evento.
Members of the jury were: Altagracia Salazar, Mercedes Castillo, Jose Rafael Vargas, Toni Perez, Arturo Villanueva, Luis Felipe Aquino, Fredy Cruz, Oscar Lopez Reyes, Jose Rafael Sosa, Cesar Perez, Evelyn Diaz and Luis Jose Chavez.
The award began in 2003, when Occidental Hotels sought to recognize the best writing covering Puerto Plata, and dedicated it to Listin Diario correspondent, Epifanio Lantigua. In 2007, the hotel chain signed a strategic alliance with Adompretur to take the award national.