Mònica Bernabé wins the María Luz Morales prize for a report on the ARA

BarcelonaARA journalist Mònica Bernabé has been awarded the María Luz Morales prize for feminist journalism for her report The Catalan Health Service (Salut) has no date set for advancing mammograms to age 45.. The award ceremony will take place this Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. at CIBA in Santa Coloma de Gramenet.

Bernabé's report explained one of the problems with breast cancer screening: the age limit. In Catalonia, all women between 50 and 69 years old receive a letter from the Catalan Health Department every two years recommending they have a mammogram for early detection of breast cancer. This age limit excludes women between 40 and 49 years old from these tests, an age group that in 2023 represented 16.5% of women diagnosed with breast cancer. Despite this high percentage and European recommendations, the Catalan Health Department does not plan to raise the screening age. The María Luz Morales Prize, which honors the first woman to be the director of a national newspaper in Spain, aims to encourage journalistic work that offers a feminist, critical, and transformative perspective. This year's jury consisted of Cristina Vargas (Deputy Mayor for Internal Services, Economy, Equality, and Commerce of the Santa Coloma de Gramenet City Council), M. Àngels Cabré (Gender Cultural Observatory), Marta Corcoy (President of the ADPC, Association of Women Journalists of Catalonia), Neus Bonet (President of Ràdio Associació de Catalunya), and Àngels Bronsoms. The prize is supported by ARA and the Association of Women Journalists of Catalonia (ADPC).