[1] They are presented each fall by the Trustees of Columbia University to journalists in the Western hemisphere who are viewed as having made a significant contributions to upholding freedom of the press in the Americas and Inter-American understanding.
John Dinges, The Godfrey Lowell Cabot Professor of Journalism at Columbia University is an author and journalist specializing in Latin America.
He is a recipient of a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University and a winner of the Maria Moors Cabot Prize in 1992 and the FNPI Gabriel García Marquez award.
Paulo Sotero, director of the Brazil Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.[3] Three to four medalists from the United States, Latin America, and Canada are selected each year.
Prize winners receive the Cabot medal and a $5,000 honorarium, plus travel expenses to New York City and hotel accommodations for the presentation ceremony.
[needs update][4] The winners of the award are announced between May and July, and the prizes are presented by the President of Columbia University each fall, at a ceremony in the rotunda of Low Memorial Library.