The mayoress of Barcelona, ​​Ada Colau, has presented this afternoon the Gold Medal for Civic Merit, posthumously, to the journalist Mària Sánchez Ledesma, a reference for local information in the city for two decades who recently died at the age of 59 .

The highly emotional act was held in the Saló de Cent of the Barcelona City Council, full of Mària’s family, friends and co-workers, whose professional work has been recognized by all the political groups represented in the Consistory, which in the plenary session on March 31 unanimously approved granting him this distinction.

The gloss of the renowned informant was given by the journalist and director of RTVE in Catalonia, Oriol Nolis, and the social activist and co-founder of the PAH, Lucía Delgado, who recalled the social commitment of Mària Sánchez with the groups and people most underprivileged, and the journalist from Betevé and friend of the honoree, Eva Arderius, who hosted the event.

The medal has been given by the mayor Ada Colau to the husband of the winner, the also journalist Manel Lucas, and to their children, Marcel and Marina.

During the session, a video was projected with images from the television career of Mària Sánchez, who, before dedicating herself to local information, was a pioneer in information on environmental issues on TVE in her capacity as director of the program El escarabajo verde. A song composed by the award-winning son has accompanied her memory images.

Barcelona City Council unanimously approved in a plenary session on March 31 to award the Gold Medal for Civic Merit, posthumously, to Mària Sánchez Ledesma, “for her long career as a local Barcelona journalist, becoming a benchmark for the new generations of local and municipal information journalists.”

Mària, who knows every corner of her city and the infinity of history and social realities that it hides and to which she gave visibility, was critical of power and knew how to put herself in the shoes of ordinary citizens. Her integrity and knowing how to do it made her worthy of the respect of politicians of all stripes and her fellow professionals, among whom she has left a huge void.