In the final stretch of this emotional rollercoaster ride in 2025, Perfil hosted the fifteenth edition of the Perfil Awards, which highlights those individuals who have distinguished themselves through freedom of the press, artistic and cultural contributions, and contributions to peace and critical thinking.
The jury responsible for this year’s final selection consisted of Rafael Bielsa, Agustín Salvia, Mabel Bianco, Diana Maffia, Damián Tabarovsky and Julio César Crivelli. The Perfil Awards categories are for: international press freedom; the best contribution of sport to human development; the best contemporary artistic work or project; the greatest contribution to international peace; the best contribution to national critical thinking; the best contribution to international critical thinking; the best scientific dissemination; the best contribution to the common good and two special awards related to Argentine journalism.
In parallel with the celebration of the Perfil 2025 Awards, the publisher launched a special edition of more than two hundred pages in a special format with a square spine, capturing many of the essential moments of the PERFIL newspaper, which is printed on Saturdays and Sundays.
Authoritarians don’t like that
The practice of professional and critical journalism is a mainstay of democracy. That is why it bothers those who believe that they are the owners of the truth.
Symbolic. “The Berlin Wall is perhaps the most powerful symbol of the 20th century,” said Jorge Fontevecchia, founder and CEO of Grupo Perfil, recalling historian Eric Hobsbawm’s definition of the “short 20th century,” which began with the First World War in 1914 and ended in 1989 with the fall of the wall that divided Germany in two from 1961 to 1989, the only fragments of which lie outside Berlin at Grupo Perfil’s headquarters in the barracks. Beyond its historical value, Fontevecchia emphasized its political and communicative dimension: “It was not just a wall that divided territories; it was a symbol of censorship, a concrete obstacle for one side to know what was happening on the other.” He also recalled that when the Wall was built in the 1960s, television was not as big as it is today and information was mainly disseminated via shortwave radio. “Today it seems absurd to us to believe that a wall could prevent access to information, but in this context it was an effective tool of isolation,” he explained.
Berlin in the barracks. Fontevecchia also reconstructed the story of how these fragments ended up in Argentina. He said that while the group was preparing to publish its weekly political magazine (Noticias), the fall of the Berlin Wall occurred. “It was kind of a call from history,” he said. After more than a year of negotiations with the then German Democratic Republic, Perfil managed to bring fragments of the Wall in exchange for the construction of a school. “We selected the most representative sections that are close to the Brandenburg Gate. What you see here today was right in the heart of Berlin,” he explained.
Better before. In another part of the speech, Fontevecchia emphasized that the Profile Awards do not aim to honor the fame or popularity of the men and women they select, but rather to recognize works and careers of outstanding value. “Awards should anticipate the value of a person and not come after that value has already been consecrated,” he explained the etymology of the word “premium.”
He also clarified that Perfil Group does not decide the winners, except for the Freedom of Expression Award, which is founded by the journalism company itself. During the ceremony, one of the Special Press Freedom Awards was awarded to photojournalist Pablo Grillo, in recognition of his professional work and commitment to vividly documenting social protests in Argentina.
common end. In keeping with the award for Pablo Grillo, the award goes to Martin Baron, former director of the Washington Post, the Boston Globe – where he led the investigative team that uncovered sexual abuse by the Catholic Church in that city – and the Miami Herald. A month ago he said: “The United States was a model of freedoms, but we are no longer one. Independent journalism has lost the country’s vital support, and that is a sign that we have lost our soul. I no longer take press freedom in the United States for granted.” Baron was awarded the 2025 Freedom of Expression Award.
At the national level, and also directly related to the awards for Grillo and Baron, Perfil awarded a special award for his journalistic career to Jacobo Timerman, a hallmark of committed journalism, who died in 1999. From New York, his son Javier Timerman sent a message, and in Perfil he was remembered by an employee who was more than close to Timerman: Abrasha Rotenberg, co-founder of the magazine Primera Plana and the newspapers Nueva Sion and La Opinion; and father of Cecilia Roth.
The word “freedom” is also used for the award for the greatest contribution to international peace, which Graziella Chiarcossi received on behalf of her cousin Pier Paolo Passolini, a famous Italian filmmaker whose assassination took place fifty years ago. “For Pasolini, peace was not a state of normality, but an achievement that required critical thinking,” said her cousin Chiarcossi.
Looks. In addition to those connected to the media, one of the winners was Esteban Bullrich. In his case in the category “Best Contribution to the Common Good”. Bullrich sends a constant message to society to overcome all forms of divide and confronts ELA with tremendous resilience.
Those who also bridged this gap were, in their own way, the winners in the Best Scientific Dissemination category: the Conicet Stream team, a body that Milei’s government is working hard to fund. The broadcast, sponsored by the Schmidt Ocean Institute and Conicet, on board the ship Falkor and with more than thirty Argentine scientists, as well as technicians and fellows from various institutions, was watched live by thousands of people via the Schmidt Ocean Institute YouTube channel.
Art and chess. Arthaus is one of the newest and most interesting avant-garde spaces in the city of Buenos Aires. Its founder, Andrés Buhar, businessman and art collector, won the award for the best contemporary artistic project. Although he was not present due to the agenda, the award for the best contribution of sport to human development went to the 12-year-old international chess champion Faustino Oro.
She. Who also couldn’t be in the profile was Rita Segato, who was recognized as the best contribution to national critical thinking. In his place, Claudia Martínez, Minister of Women of Córdoba, received him after showing a video with a message from Segato. The prize for the best international critical contribution went to Ana Arzoumanian, lawyer, author and essayist, whose latest book is published in this issue of PERFIL. She received a scholarship from the International School for the Study of the Holocaust, Yad Vashem, to conduct the seminar “Remembering the Shoá and the Dilemmas of its Tradition”; and he filmed the documentary A in Armenia and Argentina about the Armenian genocide and the disappeared during the Argentine military dictatorship.
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