The InterAmerican Heart Foundation (IAHF) last week presented awards in its fifth InterAmerican Journalism Contest on the Tobacco Epidemic in Bridgetown, Barbados. The awards ceremony was one of the highlights of the Health Caribbean 2008 conference.

Assistant Editor of Stabroek News Cheryl Springer and Fernanda D’Avila of Eldorado AM, a radio station in Sao Paulo, Brazil were the winners, chosen from 150 entries submitted by journalists in Argentina, Brazil, the Caribbean, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Judges of the competition were Pedro García of Chile, an ex minister of health and designer of the Tobacco Law; Yul Francisco Dorado of Colombia, a lawyer and representative of Corporate Accountability International; Patricia Ayala of the United States, specialist in public relations and Tobacco Control Advocacy; Winston Abascal of Uruguay, Director General of the Tobacco Control Program in the Ministry of Public Health; Eduardo Bianco of Uruguay, Cardiologist of the IAHF; Tania Cavalcante of Brazil, Chief, Tobacco Control Division, National Cancer Institute; Claudio Jehin of Argentina, President of the Argentine Society of Medical Journalism;

Antonio Carlos da Cunha of Brazil, a journalist and Member of Tobacco Control Alliance; Ricardo Córdova Orta of Mexico, Corporate Communications Specialist, IAHF; Vera Luisa da Costa e Silva of Brazil, Consultant, World Health Organization; and Gustavo Giraldo of Mexico, a specialist in Communication Science at the IAHF.

The IAHF said the objectives of the annual competition are to award journalists and mass media who have contributed to reducing the tobacco epidemic; to stimulate media discussion on the tobacco epidemic; and to send to the community messages on prevention that do not always arrive due to a lack of resources..

The competition was also sponsored by ACT of Brazil, PAHO and Framework Convention Alliance.