Amadora, Lisbon, Aug. 19, 2026 (Lusa) - A report on shanty towns in the Portuguese capital by journalist Teresa Serafim, with photography by Daniel Rocha, infographics by Francisco Lopes and a video by Joana Gonçalves, has won the Orlando Gonçalves Literary Prize.
The award was announced by Amadora Municipal Council in a press release.
The prize, worth €5,000, is awarded every two years, alternating between the categories of Narrative Fiction and Journalism; this year, it recognised a piece of journalism.
Twenty-six entries competed for the prize and were assessed by a jury comprising Ana Cristina Pereira, a journalist with the Público newspaper and winner of the prize in 2024, representing Amadora Municipal Council; the poet Tiago Torres da Silva, representing the Portuguese Society of Authors; and Susana Venceslau, a journalist with the Lusa news agency, representing the Journalists' Union, according to a statement from the Council.
The jury was unanimous in selecting "Barracas na área de Lisboa: o regresso de um problema que nunca desapareceu" [Shacks in the Lisbon area: the return of a problem that never went away], and considered that «the piece provides a historical account of the «attempt» to eradicate shanty towns in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area in the 1990s, linking it to the resurgence of this issue today and to the housing crisis facing the capital».
«The article meets all the requirements of the award in question: it addresses a pressing social issue with local relevance. It combines the exercise of memory with current affairs, placing particular emphasis on human rights and the exercise of democracy,» added the jury.
Teresa Serafim has been a journalist at the Público newspaper since 2016. She holds a degree in Communication Sciences from the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences at the New University of Lisbon (UNL) and completed a master's degree in Portuguese Studies at the same university.
Daniel Rocha has been a photojournalist, also at the newspaper Público, since 1992. He holds a degree in Anthropology from UNL and in Photography from Ar.Co (Centre for Art and Visual Communication), and has already been honoured with several awards.
Francisco Lopes has been a journalist and infographics designer at the same newspaper since 2016. He has received several national and international awards for his infographics.
Joana Gonçalves has been a member of the editorial team at the newspaper Público since 2022, having begun her career in 2018 at Rádio Renascença, and having also worked in the newsrooms of the weekly newspaper Expresso and at SIC.
The award will be presented on 12 September at 11.00 am at the Fernando Piteira Santos Municipal Library, as part of the 11th Book Festival.
The Orlando Gonçalves Literary Prize was established in 1998 by Amadora Municipal Council; its aim is «to honour the memory of the writer and journalist Orlando Gonçalves and to encourage literary production, contributing to the defence and enrichment of the Portuguese language».
The first winner of this award, in 1998, in the Journalism category, was Ana Margarida Carvalho, for «Filhos da Clandestinidade».
Last year, the prize, in the Narrative Fiction category, was awarded to Ricardo Franco for his book «Inspetor Chavarino: caixa de cisne».
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