The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has selected 22 finalists from its public contest to create an anthem honoring journalists murdered in Latin America.’ The contest is part of IAPA’s Impunity Project, which aims to combat violence against journalists and lessen the impunity surrounding the majority of those crimes.

Named ‘Lend your Voice to the Voiceless,’ the competition set out to allow anyone to post videos, songs or lyrics for approval by a network of online peers and has received support from well-known artists like Emilio Estefan.’ So far, the content has garnered the attention of over 57,000 votes from thousands of registered online voters.

One such artist to make it to the finals is Armando Elonga of Equatorial Guinea, who sings,

‘I ask for justice for all the journalists killed in the line of duty all around the world.’ He continues, ‘I sing for the one who can no longer speak because a murdering bullet has silenced his voice.’ I sing for the one who died for the truth’ Until when will we watch this impunity?’ Until when will we watch journalists die?’

Another is Richi Divasi from Guatemala, who chants,

‘No more violence, no more impunity.” He goes on to say, ‘You are not in this fight alone, you will see that everything will be fine.’ We have to fight for our freedom, you will see that together we can accomplish more.’ I don’t know who said no, who said we can’t shout with faith” A new world ‘ we want liberty.’

You can hear both their songs and more at www.donatuvoz.com.

Other finalists range from Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, the U.S., Uruguay and Venezuela ‘ all of which have suffered losses of journalists killed with impunity.

Over the past 8 years, Knight Foundation has awarded the IAPA Impunity Project with almost $7 million to address and prevent crimes against journalists. A full report highlighting the project’s successes in placing governments under pressure to provide justice, as well as its difficulties in implementing lasting deterrents is available on our website.

For more information on how Knight funds quality journalism in order to promote informed and engaged communities visit www.knightfoundation.org/programs/journalism.