At NAHJ's Noche de Triunfos, the Stories Were the Stars

Washington, D.C. - The moving power of journalism was evident as winners took the stage to receive their awards during the National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ 21st annual Noche de Triunfos gala on Oct. 5.

In a sold-out ballroom of the Capital Hilton in Washington D.C., news stories about the Latino community, as well as exceptional reporting and writing by Latino journalists in broadcast, print, radio and online, were honored by the association. Award winners showcased their stories and discussed the impact of their work on their own lives and their communities.

“As Latinos, we know what it’s like to be on the outside and sometimes be marginalized,” said Ana Menendez, a columnist at The Miami Herald, as she accepted her award in the print commentary category. “I hope that we can translate that into more understanding and empathy for everybody who is in those situations and not just write about ourselves but to extend our understanding of what it means to be outsiders to the rest of the community.”

Krissah Williams, a reporter with The Washington Post, accepted an award for print feature for her story about a Guatemalan immigrant and his struggles to start his own business. Williams explained the motivation behind her work saying, “I believe that part of my calling as a journalist is to write about people of color in a way that explains the wonderful and diverse world that we live in.”

Some journalists took their moment at the podium to personally reflect on how the stories touched their lives, while others commented on the subjects of their stories.

Accepting the award for print investigative news for a yearlong series about the dangers of pesticides to farm workers, John Lantigua thanked the undocumented workers who, he explained, “had to look into our eyes and say ‘Should we trust these people to tell them what we know?’ ” Lantigua was part of a team from the Palm Beach Post that also included Christine Evans and Christine Stapleton.

Hurricane Katrina was the subject of some of the night’s awarded works, but a team from Univision, made up of María Elena Salinas, Julian Pico and Lourdes Torres, was honored for its coverage of Hurricane Stan and the storm’s devastation on a remote town in Guatemala where many residents were buried alive in an ensuing mudslide.

Referring to the focus U.S. media paid to other deadly natural disasters around the world, Salinas commented on the media saying, “This was definitely a story that you would only see on Spanish-language television because, unfortunately, mainstream networks are ignoring what goes on in Latin America.”

Another theme of the winning works was the effect of failing public education systems on children, especially Latino youth.

Alvaro Visiers and Mario Carrasco, of WGBO Univision in Chicago, won the television investigative news award for their story about a high school student named Michael who was able to graduate even though he could not read and write.

“Unfortunately, Michael’s story is not a special story,” commented Visiers, “There are many Michaels out there, so that’s why I would like to dedicate this award to all the children that are neglected by the public school system in this country.”

Referring to the video segment of Visiers and Carrasco’s story, Tina Griego, winner of the Frank del Olmo Print Journalist of the Year ñ Award, said to the audience, “I hope that when you watch that very brief clip, that what you felt was not pity. I hope what you felt was outrage because that is what is going to be needed to bring attention to what is happening to our kids in schools.”

Griego, a columnist with the Rocky Mountain News, was honored for her work chronicling the issue of Latinos and education in Denver. By attending and writing about the city’s North High School, whose student population is 90 percent Latino, Griego was able to highlight problems such as truancy and drop-out rates among the Latino students.

Although many of the stories honored throughout the evening focused on tragedy within the Latino community, some highlighted the community’s triumphs. Hurricane Katrina was a devastating event for Latino residents of New Orleans, but the catastrophe tested the dedication and exuberance of one of the city’s Spanish-language radio stations, KGLA Radio Tropical.

Despite risking their lives and suffering losses during Katrina, several KGLA staffers stayed in New Orleans to keep the Spanish-speaking community informed in a time of crisis. Ernesto Schweikert, owner of KGLA, and his team from the station were awarded NAHJ’s ñ Award for Broadcast Journalist of the Year.

Schweikert praised his colleagues as he accepted the award noting that those journalists present in the audience were “the blood coursing through the best democracy in the world.”

Schweikert added, “The good thing about journalism is that it does not have a language…Journalism is universal and the language does not matter. While there is good journalism, there will always be a better future.”