Best reporting in any medium on Latin America
AWARD YEAR: 2002
AWARD NAME: The Robert Spiers Benjamin Award 2002
RECIPIENT: Sonia Nazario
AFFILIATION: Los Angeles Times
HONORED WORK: “The Boy Left Behind”
Sonia Nazario’s series on a Honduran boy’s epic struggle to find his estranged mother in the U.S. was an easy choice for the jury. In simple and beautiful prose, Ms. Nazario piled intimate detail upon detail to weave a compelling human narrative. Nazario’s on-the-scene reporting demanded courage and enterprise. In an exceptional gesture for a newspaper, the Times printed her extensive footnotes to document the story.
Citation for Excellence:
Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan
The Washington Post
“Mexico: Outside the Law”