Pulitzer Center-Supported Projects On Women’s Prisons and S. Africa Hostels Win Awards

Two Pulitzer Center-supported projects have received awards for coverage of women’s prisons in Latin America and architecture in South Africa.

Dias Eternos - Women's Time in Venezuelan Prisons, by Ana Arevalo, won the Camille Lepage Award, named after the celebrated French photojournalist killed during a conflict in the Central African Republic in 2014. 

In Venezuela, the current economic misery, mixed with violence and crime, is accentuated inside the preventive detention centers. Procedural delays are separating thousands of women from their families for months or even years. Arevalo documents the women in overcapacity jails for long periods of time. Pre-trial detention centers are often dark, hot, and overcrowded. The incarcerated women have no food, water, or medical attention. Arevalo’s project includes stories of women in the prisons and the adversities they face, including family abandonment, sexual abuse, and violent treatment. The Lepage prize will be awarded during the Visa pour l’Image Festival on September 2, 2021, at Campo Santo in San Francisco, California.

The Architecture of Apartheid: Hostels in South Africa, by grantee Johnny Miller, won WAN-IFRA’s African Digital Media Award for best data visualization. WAN-IFRA is the World Association of News Publishers.

His research focused on South Africa’s hostel architecture. Through data, he investigated how hostels limit spaces of socialization, entrepreneurship, employment, or opportunity. Yet, tens of thousands of South Africans remain in hostels as spaces of home, employment, and community. 

WAN-IFRA’s African Digital Media Awards recognize outstanding work in 2020. View the complete list of winners here.