El Tecolote wins national award for community-centered visuals

As El Tecolote’s photojournalist, I am humbled to be part of the team that received a national award for visuals at this year’s Nonprofit News Awards (INNYs). The Insight Award for Visual Journalism (Small division), presented on September 10 in New Orleans, honors work that uses photography or video to more accurately portray underrepresented communities in news media.

It’s a major milestone for our small but mighty newsroom, and for me personally. In the summer of 2023, El Tecolote hired me as the newspaper’s first full-time staff photographer in its 55-year history. It was also my first chance to work inside a newsroom dedicated to the kind of human-centered storytelling I’ve practiced since I was 17.

Since then, I’ve worked with a dedicated team to provide information that directly impacts our neighborhoods while filling narrative gaps in the media landscape. My role is to bring depth, empathy and human connection to those stories with visuals that document our community’s most vulnerable with dignity.

El Tecolote received the Insight Award for Visual Journalism at the annual Nonprofit News Awards, recognizing the newsroom’s visual coverage led by Pablo Unzueta, in San Francisco, Calif., on Sept. 15, 2025. Photo: Pablo Unzueta

INN received nearly 600 entries this year. El Tecolote was recognized for its months-long coverage of San Francisco’s RV residents fighting displacement, exposing how city officials used parking laws and construction projects to evict one of the largest RV communities in the Bay Area.

This recognition belongs to the entire hard-nosed, dedicated team: California Local News Fellow Mariana Duran, investigative reporter Yesica Prado, and Editor-in-Chief Erika Carlos, all played critical roles. Together, we blended on-the-ground reporting, public records, photography and video to document the human cost of uprooting families from their homes. We shared powerful stories and visuals across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, while staying connected with RV residents through a WhatsApp group that provided real-time updates and a guide on policy changes.

Our RV coverage became one of our most-read series of the year, cited by outlets like the San Francisco Standard and the San Francisco Chronicle. It cemented El Tecolote’s reputation as a trusted source for in-depth, community-driven journalism.

Jamilet Calderon, 43, stands inside her RV on Winston Drive in San Francisco, Calif., on April 17, 2024. Calderon, who is recovering from a leg injury after being hit by a bus near her RV, has accrued more than $1,080 in parking citations. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local

The INNY judges called our work “poignant” and “excellent.” INN CEO Karen Rundlet praised this year’s winners as storytellers who center communities in ways larger outlets often miss. “What we see among this year’s INNYs winners,” she said, “is reporting that draws attention to challenging issues and painful realities that many corporate-owned outlets overlook.”

For me, this award also reflects countless hours spent knocking on doors, talking with people on the street, and sitting with them in their homes and businesses. Too often in corporate newsrooms, photographers are dispatched with a shot list with minimal information and a limited window to build relationships. At El Tecolote, I’ve been able to slow down, hold space, and connect before taking a single photo. I call this the “humanizing stage”: the time when you put the camera down and listen.

That process changes everything. Some of my proudest moments have been watching people see themselves in our photos with dignity and recognition. They don’t just remember the images. They remember the care with which they were made, and the impact on how their stories were told.

The El Tecolote newsroom team spent months engaging with Latinx RV residents facing displacement in San Francisco’s Lake Merced neighborhood. Photo: Erika Carlos

For more than five decades, El Tecolote has built credibility by telling stories that matter for our immigrant and working-class communities. That legacy has built trust among marginalized groups, allowing me to push the boundaries of visual journalism through a collaborative focus on unseen stories: from handwritten notes collected during the city’s homeless sweeps, to an intimate profile of a day laborer who lost his leg on the job.

At a time when immigrant communities and public media face relentless attacks, community-centered journalism is more vital than ever. This award shows what’s possible when community comes first, and highlights how a small newsroom can punch above its weight.

To support our work, I hope you would consider becoming a member of El Tecolote. Your membership will help us reach a sustainable foundation amongst our staff for us to continue telling the stories larger outlets ignore and ensure our community continues to see itself reflected with dignity.