The Washington Post and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars announce the first group of winners of their Fellowship for Latin America Journalists program. The winners are: Jorge Carrasco, Proceso (Mexico); Alfonso Cuéllar, Semana (Colombia); Luciana Franco, Revista Globo Rural (Brazil); Maurizio Guerrero, PODER y Negocios (Mexico) and Flavia Tavares, O Estado de S Paulo (Brazil).

The fellowships program for print media and online journalists was launched by The Post and the Wilson Center in January 2008. The winners were selected from among sixty-five applicants from Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador and Mexico. Brazil and Mexico contributed the highest number of entries. Recipients of the fellowships will conduct two weeks (June 15 to June 28) of investigative work in Washington, working from the newsroom of The Washington Post. The articles they produce will be published in the journalists' home media and on washingtonpost.com.

"We're delighted that an outstanding pool of candidates resulted in the selection of some very promising and provocative projects, proposed by some extraordinarily talented and accomplished journalists. These are projects that are likely to have impact both here in the United States and in Latin America," said Philip Bennett, The Washington Post Managing Editor. "We were thrilled with the initial response to this pilot program, not only in terms of the number of applicants, but also in terms of the quality and diversity of their proposals," added Cynthia Arnson, director of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Latin American Program. "We very much look forward to future rounds of competition."

The Selection Committee based its final decision on the applicants' exceptional journalistic background, the originality of their proposals and feasibility of carrying them out in Washington and within the allowed time. Jorge Carrasco, 45, is a law and security reporter with Proceso, a leading investigative magazine. Alfonso Cuéllar, 43, is Editor in Chief of Semana, Colombia's leading news weekly. Luciana Franco, 38, is a reporter with Revista Globo Rural. Maurizio Guerrero, 35, is Assistant Editor and reporter with PODER. Flavia Tavares, 28, is a reporter with O Estado de S Paulo's Sunday weekly section Aliás.

The Selection Committee was comprised of two outside judges recognized for their journalistic and scholarly excellence as well as representatives of the sponsoring institutions. The members of the committee are: Alma Guillermoprieto, author, journalist and Senior Fellow, Humanities Center, Harvard University; John Dinges, author and Associate Professor, Columbia University School of Journalism; (from The Washington Post) Philip Bennett, Managing Editor; Milton Coleman, Deputy Managing Editor; Scott Wilson, Foreign Editor; Dana Priest, a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter; (from the Woodrow Wilson Center) Cynthia Arnson, Director of the Latin American Program; Andrew Selee, Director of the Mexico Institute; Paulo Sotero, Director of the Brazil Institute; and Dolia Estévez, Senior Adviser to the Initiative on Cross-Border Journalism and Fellowship Coordinator.