Havana, Cuba.- The outstanding Cuban writer, essayist, ethnologist and poet Miguel Barnet awarded this Thursday the Special Prize for Cultural Journalism Jose Antonio Fernandez de Castro, for his outstanding work in favor of Cuban culture.

Barnet has practiced journalism in the Caribbean nation and in different media of the continent, simultaneously to his exercise as President of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) and of the Fernando Ortiz Foundation.

Upon hearing the news, the writer declared his satisfaction for such recognition and his commitment to continue doing his work until years and health allow it so that Cuban culture maintains its privileged position in the international context.

The prize jury also agreed to grant this annual award from the Ministry of Culture to the journalists Sahily Tabares, Frank Padron and Yuris Norido.

Tabares, a doctor of art sciences from the Higher Institute of Art, has worked for more than 30 years as a journalist in the island’s print, radio and television media and is currently working in the magazine Bohemia.

She is a professor at the Faculty of Communication at the University of Havana, chairs the Culture Circle at the Union of Journalists of Cuba and belongs to the Association of Cinema, Radio and Television of UNEAC.

Padron, considered one of the most versatile communicators of the Cuban cultural panorama, enters indistinctly in the literary, cinematographic criticism and of the scenic arts in general.

Her journalistic publications are published in various national media such as Granma, Trabajadores, Juventud Rebelde, La Jiribilla, El Caiman Barbudo, among others; while her essays have been published in five books of artistic criticism.

Norido, who practices journalism and photography in the Cubasi portal web, stands out as an editorial commentator in the Cultural News of television and in the magazine Vitrales, of the Cubavision Internacional station. He also collaborates with magazines such as Tablas, Cuba en el Ballet, La Jiribilla, Alma Mater and maintains opinion columns in Trabajadores and other digital media.