NAHJ DC is pleased to announce our Spring 2016 Charlie Ericksen Journalism Supplement winner Irene Benedicto. Irene will receive a supplement worth $335 to be placed on a Metro SmarTrip card and pay for her NAHJ Student membership.

Read about Irene below:

Irene graduated with a degree in Journalism, specializing in international politics and economics with honors from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB), the same city where she was born and raised.

She took her first steps as a journalist volunteering in the research department of her university and at a local radio in her hometown, Cervelló, a small village near Barcelona.

By that time, she was part of the Spanish national fencing team, competing in world cups. But instead of preparing for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, she choose to dedicate her life to her real passion: to tell stories.

So she took what that high performance sport gave to her, to work hard for what she believed in, and she pursued her dream: to be an international correspondent.

After a year working for an economic newspaper in Barcelona, in a humble but feisty newsroom, where she learned about investigative journalism, the opportunity arose. Agencia Efe, the largest news agency in Spanish language, selected her for a high competitive program which would bring her to he US.

Now she is based in DC, reporting about international issues, particularly focused on stories that affect the Hispanic community, like immigration policies and deportations of Central Americans fleeing from violence.

At the same time, she is studing for a Masters in International Journalism online, with the National University of Spain (UNED). History is made of people’s struggles, sometimes loud, sometimes quiet. She just want to be there to report about it.