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Its always nice to see a happy outcome, a Cuban blogger, who recently had her own site blocked by the Cuban government has won an award for that very site. Yoani Sanchez who writes the Generacion Y blog as a journal of her daily life in Cuba was given the Ortega and Gasset prize for digital journalism. This prize comes as an annual event that is presented by the Spanish newspaper El Pais. According to the paper, Sanchez was awarded the prize for “shrewdness in overcoming hurdles to freedom of expression in Cuba, her vivacious style and her drive to join the global space of citizen journalism.”

According to reports she hosts her blog on servers in Germany and was able to attract 1.2 million hits this past February. But perhaps more important than the award, Sanchez who spoke with Reuters via telephone was quoted as saying that “this is great encouragement for Cuban bloggers who are still at an embryonic stage.”

Thankfully the Cuban government has been getting a little looser lately when it comes to ‘modern’ freedoms such as cell phones, computers, DVD players and toasters. Hopefully some of this new found ‘freedom’ will find its way to the Internet access, which is currently still controlled by the government and we can only hope that Yoani Sanchez does not receive any unwanted attention courtesy of her blog, award and new found attention.

Read [Reuters]