Premio Brajnovic a la communication is a prestigious Spanish award (500,000 pesets) established in 1997 upon the initiative of newspapermen and lecturers from the University of Pamplona as a recognition to Luka Brajnovic (born in 1919 in Kotor, in Boka kotorska in today’s Montenegro, died in 2001). He was a professor of Ethics at the University of Navarra, a former director of the Institute of Artes Liberales, a well known Spanish intellectual. It is interesting that the award was established during his lifetime.

Professor Brajnovic on the right, Prof. Radovan Grgec, Mrs Brajnovic,
and the King of Dolls on the left, in Pamplona (many thanks to Prof. Grgec)

He was the founder and the dean of the prestigious School of Communication at the Universtiy of Pamplona (Facultad de Comunicación de la Universidad de Navarra) until his retirement, and he educated hundreds of top newspapermen working in Spain and in Latin America. Luka Brajnovic is the author of important monographs, like

• Tecnologia de la informacion, 1968
• Deontologia periodista, 1969
• Literatura de la revolucion bolschevique, 1975
• Despedidos y encuentras.

For more information see the biography of don Brainovic at The University of Navarra, and also here.

Professor Brajnovic had to escape from Croatia in 1945 in front of the Yugoslav communist threat. He also collaborated intensively with various Croatian emigrant journals.

• One of his brothers was killed by Yugoslav partisans on the islet of Daksa near Dubrovnik in 1944, sharing the same destiny as the whole group of forty four leading Dubrovnik intellectuals.
• Premio Brajnovic for 2001 was conferred posthumously to Sinisa Glavasevic, Croatian newspaperman killed in Vukovar in 1991 during the Greater-Serbian aggression on Croatia. Exhumed from the mass grave Ovcara near Vukovar together with several hundred detainees from the city hospital.
• Premio Brajnovic for 2005 was conferred to Dr. Joaquin Navarro-Valls, director of The Holly See Press Office, The Vatican. It is interesting that he studied among others at the Faculty of Sciences and Communication in Pamplona where Luka Brainovic was teaching.

Photo from Faculdad de Comunicacion (School for Communication)
Universidad de Navarra

The Luka Brajnovic Award for Communication was inaugurated by the School of Communication at the University of Navarra in 1997. The award was established in memory of Luka Brajnovic –who died on the 8th February 2001– as a mark of respect to his career, his professional standing and reputation. Journalist, writer and Croatian poet resident in Spain after World War II, Luka Brajnovic was professor of more than thirty generations of journalists in the University of Navarra and first author of an Information Deontology manual written in Spanish. The Award is bestowed on those who have defended human dignity and the fundamental values of freedom, tolerance and solidarity in their work in the field of communication. Thus far, the award has been granted to the following people: 1997: Miguel Delibes, writer and journalist. 1998: Violeta Chamorro, former President of Nicaragua. 1999: David Puttnam, British film producer. 2000: Antonio Fontán, journalist and professor of journalism. 2001: Sinisa Glavasevic, Croatian journalist. 2002: Medios para la Paz, a Colombian media organization. 2003: José Javier Uranga, Navarre journalist. 2004: Ettore Bernabei, Italian TV executive and producer. 2005: Joaquín Navarro-Valls, spokesperson for the Holy See. 2006: Krzysztof Zanussi, Polish director and producer of cinema. Don Luka, my professor, by Carmen Ripa

Luka Brajnovic among his students in Pamplona, Spain (source)

Luka Brajnovic Davinovic was born in Kotor, Croatia, in 1919. He studied law in Zagreb, and was president of the League of Croatian Students. When Communism took over his country, he was persecuted for the faith and risked his life with Christian heroism on various occasions. He was forced to leave his country and spent twelve years without being able to see his wife and daughter. He managed to reach Italy, where he met Blessed Josemaria. He later moved to Spain, and resided there until the end of his life. He joined Opus Dei in 1952. In 1960 he became a professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Navarre. He was noted for his simplicity, good humor and spirit of service. He died in Pamplona on February 8, 2001. Source

Josip Bratulic: Luka Brajnovic – krizni put hrvatskog intelektualca, in [Boka kotorska – jedno od izvorista hrvatske pasionske bastine, pp 199-210]