Alumna Jacqueline Charles '94 recognized with most prestigious award given for coverage of the Americas

UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media alumna Jacqueline Charles '94 — currently the Miami Herald's Caribbean correspondent — was awarded the 2018 Maria Moors Cabot Prize. The Cabot Prize is the most prestigious award given for coverage of the Americas.

Charles, who serves on the school’s Board of Advisers, has reported on the Caribbean — and Haiti in particular — for the Herald since 2006.

“Winning the Cabot isn’t just a testament about my coverage of the region but the Miami Herald’s commitment to the Caribbean, notably Haiti,” said Charles. “For us, Haiti isn’t a foreign story. It’s a local one, and it’s great to continue the long tradition of Miami Herald journalists honored for their coverage of Latin America.”

Columbia University’s School of Journalism announced the 2018 winners in July. In addition to Charles, the other Cabot Prize winners are Graciela Mochkofsky, an Argentine writer, journalist and professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at City University of New York; Fernando Rodrigues, an investigative journalist from Brazil who founded the digital news platform Poder360; and Hugo Alconada Mon, a reporter for Argentina’s La Nación and a founding partner in a network of Latin American investigative reporters known as REPI. Meridith Kohut, an American photojournalist who lives in Caracas, is also recognized with special citation for her photos of the Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis.

“For a correspondent whose focus is South America, there is no higher honor,” said Susan King, dean of the Hussman School. “Jacquie Charles has always been a respected reporter who tells the story of modern Haiti. This recognition adds her to the pantheon of great journalism.”

Columbia’s release announcing the awards described Charles as a “tireless journalist and accomplished writer” who “always looks deeper, searching for vivid tales to convey the inequities and deprivation that have stalled progress in the region.”

Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger will present gold medals and a $5,000 honorarium to each winner on Oct. 10, 2018, at Low Library on the university’s Morningside Heights campus.