Humboldt State University's El Leñador newspaper was awarded the "Best All-Around Student Newspaper" by the Society of Professional Journalists for Region 11, a multi-state competition, at the 2020 Mark of Excellence regional awards.

“Winning this award means that people, even outside of this community, recognize the important work that our team puts into producing El Leñador,” said Nancy Garcia, one of three El Leñador editors-in-chief. “That's a really good feeling because we work hard."

El Leñador was founded in 2013 after students majoring in journalism and Spanish came together to create the school's first bilingual newspaper, the only newspaper in Humboldt County that prints news stories in Spanish. Since then, El Leñador has won multiple awards, including the best non-weekly student newspaper in the state by the California College Media Association in 2016.

"Spanish-speaking people in Humboldt County don't have many sources to turn to for news and information so we're trying to bridge that gap, especially in the pandemic,” Garcia said. “Along with that, we also try to cover stories that are relevant to Humboldt's other diverse communities.”

HSU's weekly newspaper The Lumberjack won the Online/Digital Sports Videography award and over at the school's magazine, The Osprey, reporter and photographer Julie Navarro won the Feature Photography award.

El Leñador reporter and artist Kassandra Rice, a political science major and recent graduate, was a finalist in the Editorial Cartooning category for her COVID-19 cartoons.

Thomas Lal, The Lumberjack’s editor-in-chief this semester, was also a finalist in the Breaking News Photography category for his work,“Eureka protests erupt after George Floyd murder.”

Read the full press release below.

Editor's Note: Due to an editing error, the story mislabeled the competition region of the Society of Professional Journalists awards. The competition was a multi-state competition for Region 11, compromising Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada and Mariana Islands. The Journal regrets the error.

El Leñador Named ‘Best All-Around Student Newspaper’ in Society of Professional Journalists’ Regional Competition

HSU Student Media Win 5 Prestigious SPJ Awards

El Leñador, the monthly bilingual student newspaper at Humboldt State University, received top honors as the “Best All-Around Student Newspaper” by the Society of Professional Journalists this month as part of the 2020 Mark of Excellence regional awards.

The Society of Professional Journalists is a nationally-recognized authority for establishing best practices in the journalism profession. The MOE awards honored the best of student journalism for work published in 2020. Students from HSU competed in SPJ’s Region 11, which includes Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada and Mariana Islands.

“Winning this award means that people, even outside of this community, recognize the important work that our team puts into producing El Leñador,” said Nancy Garcia, one of three editors-in-chief of El Leñador this spring. “That's a really good feeling because we work hard."

El Leñador was founded in 2013 when students from journalism and Spanish teamed up. Since then, El Leñador has won numerous student media awards, including being named the best non-weekly student newspaper in the state by the California College Media Association in 2016.

El Leñador is the only newspaper in Humboldt County with local news in Spanish and it is published monthly during the spring and fall semesters, and online at ellenadornews.com.

Garcia, a journalism major and Spanish media minor, has been on the newspaper staff for the last four semesters and has also served as the Spanish editor for El Leñador. She said the paper plays an important role in the community.

"Spanish-speaking people in Humboldt County don't have many sources to turn to for news and information so we're trying to bridge that gap, especially in the pandemic,” Garcia said. “Along with that, we also try to cover stories that are relevant to Humboldt's other diverse communities.”

Osprey and The Lumberjack received two first place SPJ awards

Osprey magazine reporter and photographer Julie Navarro won the Feature Photography award. Navarro’s photos in “Black Lives Matter: The digital mobilization of citizen journalists” capture citizen journalists at BLM protests in Los Angeles. Navarro is a critical race and gender studies major and this was her first time working on student journalism. She put her passion to the test. “I really wanted to share something that would be meaningful for all to see,” Navarro said. “It means a lot to me being part of documenting history.”

The Lumberjack weekly student newspaper won the Online/Digital Sports Videography award. Dakota Cox was the Life & Arts editor last fall when he and fellow staff members Skylar Gaven and Thomas Lal produced the winning video “San Jose State University football team comes to Humboldt.”

"It was extremely rewarding to work together on a story with such an immediate and dramatic impact on campus," Cox said. "We wanted to shed light on how the decision to allow SJSU to come here was affecting HSU students."

Two students were also finalists for the SPJ awards

El Leñador reporter and artist Kassandra Rice was a finalist in the Editorial Cartooning category for her COVID-19 cartoons. Rice is a political science major and 2020 HSU graduate, and said “This award inspires me to show my art to the world.”

Thomas Lal, The Lumberjack’s editor in chief this semester, was a finalist in the Breaking News Photography category for his work on “Eureka protests erupt after George Floyd murder.” “Breaking news is one of those things that I feel like I'm pretty decent at capturing,” Lal said. “So to have it be recognized … says to me that I'm doing something right in telling that story.”

Students in El Leñador, The Lumberjack and Osprey published print and online editions, despite the challenges of virtual reporting and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journalism faculty media advisers are Andrea Juarez at El Leñador, Deidre Pike at The Lumberjack and Jessie Cretser-Hartenstein at Osprey.


HSU student media recipients of the 2020 Society of Professional Journalists
Mark of Excellence Awards
(HSU publications were awarded in categories with colleges or universities with enrollments under 9,999 students.)

Best All-Around Student Newspaper
Winner: El Leñador English and Spanish newspaper.

Best Feature Photography
Winner: “Black Lives Matter: The digital mobilization of citizen journalists” by Julie Navarro, published in Osprey fall 2020 issue.

Best Online/Digital Sports Videography
Winner: “San Jose State University football team comes to Humboldt” by Dakota Cox, Skylar Gaven and Thomas Lal, published in The Lumberjack on Dec. 2, 2020.

Breaking News Photography
Finalist: “Eureka protests erupt after George Floyd murder” by Thomas Lal, published in The Lumberjack, May 31, 2020.

Editorial Cartooning
Finalist: COVID-19 cartoons by Kassandra Rice, published in El Leñador, spring 2020.


About the SPJ Awards

First-place winners are automatically considered for the SPJ’s national journalism competition. National winners will be notified in the late spring and will be recognized at SPJ’s national conference. A full list of awards can be found at https://www.spj.org/news.asp?ref=1801