We are proud to announce that El Tecolote’s newsroom received national and statewide recognition in June for its visual journalism, public service, immigration and investigative reporting, as well as its deep commitment to the community it serves.
Every day, our small team works to inform, defend and uplift San Francisco’s working-class and immigrant Latino communities. We are called to this work because we care deeply about the communities we come from. We continually push ourselves to challenge harmful narratives, hold powerful institutions accountable and meet the moment with journalism that is ethical, reparative and innovative.
As editor-in-chief of this beloved and historic community newsroom, I am thrilled to share a roundup of the latest honors our team received.
National award for visual journalism
At the Institute for Nonprofit News’ annual conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, El Tecolote received the Insight Award for Visual Journalism in the small-newsroom category for photojournalist Pablo Unzueta’s photo essay, “An immigrant came to San Francisco for work. One injury changed everything.”
The story follows Jacento B., a San Francisco day laborer whose life changed after a workplace injury. One judge praised the project for drawing out “the humanity behind the writing” through its powerful photographs, videos and visual presentation. This is the second consecutive year Unzueta has received this national honor.
California awards for community-centered journalism
The California News Publishers Association honored the El Tecolote newsroom with four California Journalism Awards.
Public Service Journalism: Reporter Mariana Durán received second place for her investigation into Artri Ajo King, a supplement containing hidden ingredients that can cause serious health problems over time. Despite federal warnings, the supplement remained popular among older Latino immigrants living with chronic pain and was widely available in Latino-serving stores across San Francisco.
Following publication, local clinics reported that more patients were seeking help to safely stop using the supplement, and at least one Mission District store removed it from its shelves. The Guardian syndicated the investigation, El Tecolote partnered with Factchequeado on a follow-up explainer, and Spanish-speaking consumers received clear, actionable health information that had often been unavailable to them.
Community Focus: El Tecolote received third place for its sustained reporting on how Spanish-speaking Latina immigrant mothers in San Francisco approached health and wellness amid rising costs, immigration enforcement and cuts to Medi-Cal. The initiative grew from community listening that identified major gaps in trusted Spanish-language information about mental health, healthcare access, immigration-related trauma and culturally resonant approaches to healing.
The work included reporting produced with Somos Esenciales, a grassroots group of immigrant Latina mothers conducting research on mental health, the Artri Ajo King investigation, the private Entre Nosotras WhatsApp group and the Querida Consejera advice column.
Immigration Reporting: Reporter Mariana Durán received third place for “‘She’s my home’: An S.F. couple’s life unraveled after one ICE check-in.” The story documents San Francisco resident Roberto’s grief after his wife, Sandra, was arrested during a routine appointment at ICE’s San Francisco field office and detained while awaiting progress in her asylum case.
Through the belongings Sandra left untouched in their apartment and Roberto’s account of the life they had built together, Durán documented the intimate consequences of a broader surge in arrests at ICE check-ins. The story connected changing immigration-enforcement practices and increasingly limited paths out of detention with the devastation experienced by one San Francisco family.
Investigative Reporting: El Tecolote received fifth place for its examination of San Francisco’s efforts to displace families living in recreational vehicles. Over more than a year, journalists Yesica Prado, Pablo Unzueta, Erika Carlos and Mariana Durán combined sustained field reporting with a review of thousands of pages of public records to show how parking restrictions, construction projects and political pressure were used to repeatedly displace primarily working-class, immigrant and Latino families.
The reporting helped shift the public framing of RV residents from “blight” to neighbors facing displacement, while exposing the failures of enforcement-first policies, explaining how legislation would impact people’s daily lives and prompting a city investigation into allegations that a city worker sold RV parking permits for cash.