Holly Edgell Hosts 2nd Belize Prize for Investigative Journalism

The Belize Prize for Investigative Journalism held its annual award night on Saturday at the House of Culture. The prize, organized by Holly Edgell, is a first of its kind in Belize. The winner takes home ten thousand dollars while two finalists walk away with five thousand dollars each. On Saturday night, Edgell signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Belize that will see the Belize Prize for Investigate Journalism hosted by the university in the future. But perhaps the greatest benefit coming out of the prize is the quality of investigation that goes into the diverse stories that are submitted. For a second time, Channel Seven’s Jules Vasquez snagged the coveted prize. News Five’s Hipolito Novelo was one of the three finalists in this year’s award. We spoke with him.

 

Hipolito Novelo, Journalist, News Five

“First of all I want to thank the camera man that went to me to the Chiquibul, Dreams Kenroy Michael and Editor Shayanne, along with my mentor from BVI Freeman Rogers. That trip took an entire day to get to Chiquibul and it took about three months to produce that investigative piece. I think the Belize Prize for Investigative Journalism is crucial to what we do. I think this is what we wanted for so many years and the recognition for MIC, for CIJN, it motivates other reporters like myself to do more investigative pieces and I think that i9s what the Belizean public wants us to do on a weekly basis to get down deep into those data, those files and those documents, to create positive change , not only for us and what we do, but for the public as well.”