Caminhos da Reportagem, from TV Brasil, wins Vladimir Herzog Award

The episode Domestic slave labor: silence and servitude, from the program Caminhos da Reportagem, on TV Brasil, won the video category of the 48th Vladimir Herzog Prize for Amnesty and Human Rights Journalism. The announcement was made this Wednesday (30).

The journalistic production, which aired on April 20, 2026, brings viewers stories of women who were subjected to conditions analogous to slavery and discusses ways to improve post-rescue support.

“This work is the result of a collective effort by the Caminhos da Reportagem team, from TV Brasil, of which I am very proud to be a part. Receiving the 48th Vladimir Herzog Prize for Amnesty and Human Rights is recognition that, for us, also reaffirms the importance and responsibility of public communication in Brazil,” reporter Marieta Cazarré said. “Talking about domestic slave labor is especially challenging because this violation happens inside Brazilian homes, often far from the eyes of society,” she added.

Cases such as that of Madalena Gordiano, who was rescued from a situation of labor analogous to slavery in Patos de Minas at the end of 2020, are presented.

The report says that she arrived at the home of the family that exploited her as a “goddaughter,” but was subjected to more than 30 years of domestic work without pay or access to documents.

The impact of this case at the time it came to light led to new reports and more rescues of women in situations of domestic labor analogous to slavery in the country.

For Paulo Leite, the program’s text editor, “it is an immense source of pride to win such an important award by telling stories that remained hidden for years or decades. This is public communication doing its job. I thank those who agreed to talk to us and everyone who took part in this project.”

Producer Patrícia Araújo thanked partners from Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Rede Minas, who recorded with extreme sensitivity each testimony from these women whose rights, identity, and dignity were stripped away.

“We are only shedding light on these stories, hoping that the horrors of domestic slavery will no longer be repeated in the country. Hence the importance of a prize like Vladimir Herzog, which recognizes public journalism as a source of Human Rights in Brazil. Very honored!”

Participated in the episode’s production team were Marieta Cazarré, Paulo Leite, Ana Graziela Aguiar, Ana Passos, Cleiton Freitas, Patrícia Araújo, Gabriel Penchel, JM Barboza, Rogério Verçoza, Sigmar Gonçalves, Alexandre Souza, Marcelo Vasconcelos, Rafael Carvalho, Rivaldo Martins, Aleixo Leite, Caroline Ramos, Wagner Maia.

Watch the award-winning episode of Caminhos da Reportagem

Caminhos da reportagem was also competing for the award with another finalist, the episode The Eternal April of Carajás: 30 years of a massacre.

The program highlights one of the largest police crackdowns in the country's history in the countryside, which resulted in 21 deaths and dozens of injuries in Eldorado do Carajás, in Pará, in 1996.

The program was broadcast on April 13, 2026. Those involved in the production included Thiago Padovan, Acácio Barros, JM Barboza, Rafael Carvalho, Márcio Garoni, Rodrigo Botosso, Nelson Lin, Fábio de Albuquerque.

Watch the episode, which was also a finalist for the award

Agência Brasil was also awarded in this edition of the Vladimir Herzog Prize. The photo Widow says goodbye to her husband killed in the deadliest police operation in Rio de Janeiro, by photographer Tomaz Silva, was chosen by the award jury.

The photograph portrays the pain of Fernanda da Silva Martins as she embraces the body of her partner, killed in the deadliest police operation in the history of Rio de Janeiro, in October 2025. The image was republished in newspapers and websites in Brazil and abroad.

The award is a tribute to journalist Vladimir Herzog, tortured and murdered by the military dictatorship on October 25, 1975, in the premises of the Department of Information Operations of the Center for Internal Defense Operations (DOI-Codi), in São Paulo.

DOI-Codi was the main organ of political repression, detention and torture of the military regime (1964-1985). At the time, the official version presented by the military regime was that Herzog had committed suicide.

Public mission

The president of EBC, Antonia Pellegrino, highlighted the relationship between the award-winning works and the mission of public journalism.

"The two award-winning works take the public to places where pain usually remains hidden: the ground in Penha on the day of the deadliest police operation in Rio's history and the inside of the homes where women are still kept in conditions of slavery. That is the vocation of public journalism: to give visibility to those whom the country insists on not seeing and to put human rights at the center of coverage. The Vladimir Herzog Prize carries the memory of a journalist murdered by the dictatorship for doing his job. EBC was awarded twice in this edition. This result shows the consistency of the teams at Agência Brasil and TV Brasil. I congratulate Tomaz Silva, Marieta Cazarré and the entire team of Caminhos da Reportagem. I also congratulate Thiago Padovan and the colleagues from O Eterno Abril de Carajás, who reached the final," said Antonia.

The Director of Journalism at EBC, Myrian Pereira, also recognized the work of the company's teams.

"These two awards are a source of pride for EBC and recognize the strength of our teams. Both Tomaz Silva's photograph and Caminhos da Reportagem about domestic slave labor place at the center people whose pain and stories need to be seen and heard. They are works that break the silence, expose violations and call on us to confront these realities. This is the commitment of the public journalism we do: to inform with rigor and sensitivity, in defense of human rights and democracy," said Myrian.