Martín Fierro Awards
| Martín Fierro Awards | |
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 45th Martín Fierro Awards
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| Awarded for | Best in television and radio |
| Country | Argentina |
| Presented by | APTRA |
| First awarded | 1959 |
| Official website | http://www.aptra.org.ar/ |
The Martín Fierro Awards (Spanish: Premios Martín Fierro) is the name of the most prominent awards for Argentine radio and television, granted by APTRA, the Association of Argentine Television and Radio Journalists. The awards were first given in 1959, limited to television. The next year, the awards adopted its current name, after José Hernández' epic poem Martín Fierro (considered by some as the national epic of Argentina). It was embodied on a statuette of a gaucho, by sculptor Luis Perlotti, weighing over 2 kilograms (4 lb). When the award began, the sole television station in the country was Channel 7. As the media outlets grew, the awards expanded to incorporate media from throughout the country. In 1967, radio productions were included in the awards for the first time. Nowaday there is a special rotating venue, honoring the winners from all the Provinces.
Because of the censorship and persecution of artists carried over during the 1976-83 military dictatorship, the membership of APTRA dwindled and the awards were suspended. It was not until 1988 that the award was revived. Since 1990, it has also included special productions for cable networks and -in 1992- the Golden Martín Fierro was added to honor the "best of the best". In 2004, the voting became computerized to make it both more secure and simpler, as well as allowing voting to take place immediately before broadcasting.
The first year the awards were given, 1959, the ceremony took place at the Cervantes National Theater and the inductees included:
In 1991 APTRA created a special award, the Golden Martín Fierro award. It is given to a single person or production in the annual ceremony, and it is intended as a prize to trajectory or to outstanding quality. The first winner was the host show "Fax", and the most recent one the TV series Farsantes. A second main prize, the Platinum Martín Fierro Award, was added in 2009, per the 50th anniversary of APTRA. The first winner of it was Mirtha Legrand.
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