Spanish newspaper El Pais, which gives out the award annually, said Sanchez won it for her "shrewdness" in overcoming obstacles for freedom of expression in Cuba, her "vivacious" style and her enthusiasm to join the "global space of citizen journalism."

Yoani Sanchez
(Photo Credit: Generacion Y)

Her blog "Generacion Y" is the most popular in Cuba, it received 1.2 million visitors in February.

"This is great encouragement for Cuban bloggers who are still at an embryonic stage," she told Reuters by telephone from her home in Havana. "It recognizes that Cuban blogs can be a parallel source of information, reflection and opinions independent from Cuba’s official media," the 32-year-old philologist said.

Sanchez said she started her blog to "let out frustrations," and write about the Cuba that does not get covered by the government controlled media. Last month the Cuban government blocked access to blog inside Cuba. Sanchez remained defiant and found a way around the Communist censors.
 

The blog written by Yoani Sanchez is critical of the Cuban government but remains widely read receiving 1.2 million visitors in February. Readers in Cuba who try to access her blog receive an "error downloading" message.

"So the anonymous censors of our famished cyberspace have tried to shut me in a room, turn off the light and not let my friends in," Sanchez wrote in her blog on Monday.

Sanchez said she is unable to directly access her blog from Cuba to write new posts, but has found a way around Communist censors through another route.

The 32-year-old Sanchez, a philology graduate, has drawn a considerable readership by writing about her daily life in Cuba and talking about economic issues and the lack of political freedom.

Reporters Without Borders lists Cuba as 165 out of 169 countries on its Worldwide Press Freedom Index for 2007. The press is controlled by the Cuban government and there is no independent media, leading Sanchez and other bloggers in the country to go online to express themselves.

"This breath of fresh air has disheveled the hair of bureaucrats and censors," Sanchez told Reuters. "Anyone with a bit of computer skills knows how to get around them." The state telecom monopoly ETECSA is Cuba’s only Internet service provider.

"They are admitting that no alternative way of thinking can exist in Cuba, but people will continue reading us somehow," she said. "There is no censorship that can stop people who are determined to access the Internet."