The jury for the 2012 Man and Women of the Year Prize has selected 10 finalists, five men and five women, from which the winners of the prize sponsored by Diario Libre will be selected. The male finalists are cultural promoters Freddy Ginebra and Rafael Emilio Yunen, athlete Felix Sanchez, doctor Julio Amado Castanos and Edwin Olivares, who heads the Emergency Operations Center (COE). The women finalists are psychologist Ana Simo, artist Elsa Nunez, consumer rights official Altagracia Paulino, athlete Yamilet Pena, and the president of the “A Roof for my Country” Foundation, Catalina Salazar.
The trophies for the finalists and for the Man and Woman of the Year 2012 will be awarded on Thursday, 21 March during a dinner at the Hotel El Embajador in Santo Domingo, starting at 8pm. The awards ceremony, now in its seventh year will include a posthumous homage to the late caricaturist Harold Priego for his outstanding work as a graphic artist and for having become the critical conscience of Dominican society, especially with his popular Diogenes and Boquechivo characters, which have been featured on the pages of Diario Libre since 2002. This prize has been awarded since 2006 and winners have included personalities such as Marcos Diaz, Melba Segura de Grullon, Juan Luis Guerra, Freddy Beras Goico, Mary Perez de Marranzini, Dr. Jose Joaquin Puello, journalist Alicia Ortega, Olga Gonzalez, and Father Juan Linares.