Italian leather reporter honoured
9 December 2011The Italian ‘Guido Vergani’ award for the reporter of the year 2011 went to Andrea Guolo, longstanding journalist of the Italian leather industry magazine, La Conceria owned by UNIC – the Italian tanners association. The official ceremony took place on November 26 in Milan where editor of Corriere della Sera (jury President), Ferruccio De Bortoli, and the President of the reporters club of Lombardi, Rosi Brandi presented the award.
Andrea Guolo, was awarded the Milan Press Club winner of the ‘Reporter of the Year 2011’, dedicated to the memory of Guido Vergani. The award celebrates a series of reports by Guolo published in La Conceria on toxic shoes sold in stores in Milan's Chinatown.
‘Poison Shoes,’ it said in its citation. ‘In the heart of Milan's Chinatown shops, displayed and sold for a few euros labels where ‘made in Italy’ was fake and the leather was also fake. The investigation, in the tradition of investigative journalism, resulted in seizures and complaints, but also the terrible threats of fakes and that the price dumping policies can lead to health risks for consumers. The report by Andrea Guolo embodies the rigor of a reporter and demonstrates once more the inescapable social function of journalism and research related to the facts.’
‘With gratitude I receive this very important award,’ says Andrea Guolo, ‘Which is the result of a great team effort. There is a strong connection between my professional work in two different areas, fashion and food: the passion to tell and document the work that is the basis of a product, the need to inform consumers about what they buy and the risk that unaware purchases could benefit organised crime.’
