July 11, 2025 – The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) is proud to announce the winners of the 2025 Ñ Awards, which honor excellence in categories ranging from investigative journalism and television/video to education reporting and student journalism.
This year’s winners and finalists were recognized at the Ñ Awards luncheon during the NAHJ International Conference & Expo in Chicago.
“I’m inspired by the excellence and impact of the work we are here to celebrate,” said NAHJ President Dunia Elvir. “Many of these powerful stories would have gone untold without the cultural competence of the NAHJ members who produced them.”
NAHJ presented Ñ Awards in eight categories and prestigious named awards in four others, including the NAHJ Elaine Rivera Civil Rights & Social Justice Award, the Al Neuharth Award for Investigative Journalism, and two NAHJ/University of Florida Investigative Journalism Awards.
Two new categories debuted this year: Education, supported by the College Board, and Podcast Journalism.
Ñ Award Winners
Education (Presented by the College Board)
This Hartford Public High School grad can’t read. Here’s how it happened, The Connecticut Mirror
Aleysha Ortiz, a Puerto Rican student, spent almost her entire life in the American school system yet graduated unable to read or write. What went wrong?
Print/Digital Journalism
Exposed: Latino farmworkers risk their health working under threat of pesticide exposure, Univision News Digital
This bilingual multimedia project tracked pesticide exposure among farmworkers in three states, revealing widespread chemical presence and regulatory gaps. The two-year investigation used innovative silicone wristbands capable of detecting up to 75 types of pesticides.
Radio/Online Audio Journalism
The Misinformation Web, Latino USA & Futuro Investigates
An investigation into social media content creators driving election misinformation targeting Latinos. Futuro Investigates, in collaboration with Latino USA, tracked how lies and conspiracies in English migrated to Spanish-speaking audiences.
Television/Online Video Journalism
The Right Way, ProPublica, The Texas Tribune, Univision
Following the Pabón family, among nearly 8 million Venezuelans who fled their country, as they navigate the U.S. asylum system buckling under record numbers.
Photojournalism
‘Nothing certain’ for most-vulnerable employees at Golden Gate Fields, Berkeleyside
With Golden Gate Fields racetrack closing in 2024, hundreds of migrant workers faced displacement. Photojournalist Ximena Natera documented their uncertainty in its final months, asking: What comes next?
Podcast Journalism
Frequency of Deception / Radiofrecuencia de Engaños, Feet in 2 Worlds/WNYC
This investigative audio documentary reveals how Spanish-language radio spreads disinformation targeting Latino audiences, exposing foreign propaganda networks, political manipulation, and lack of oversight, while offering tools to counter misinformation.
Student Broadcast Journalism
En Vivo: Dr. Callesano Interview, UI7 Newsroom
A discussion on first-generation and last-generation gaps in speaking Spanish, highlighting the importance of words.
Student Print/Digital Journalism
La Frontera: Crossing the Rio Grande, Media Milwaukee
Journalism students traveled to Eagle Pass, Texas, and Laredo, Texas, and crossed into Piedras Negras, Mexico, to report on how migration affects local communities and to understand its human impact.
Top Tier Awards
Al Neuharth Award for Investigative Journalism
A Deadly Detour: Migrant deaths spike outside El Paso, NBC News
A rigorously investigative, emotionally gripping documentary on the rise in heat exhaustion deaths outside El Paso, told through one young woman’s tragic story.
Elaine Rivera Civil Rights & Social Justice Award
El Precio del Campo, Univision Sacramento
Exposing how undocumented farmworkers who feed the nation face hunger themselves, revealing food insecurity as a health and civil rights crisis hiding in plain sight.
NAHJ/University of Florida Award for Investigative Journalism (Small/Medium Newsroom)
A fatal field trip, Austin American-Statesman
An investigation into regulatory gaps that allowed a dangerous driver to transport a school bus full of kindergarteners from a working-class Hispanic community, with tragic results.
NAHJ/University of Florida Award for Investigative Journalism (Large Newsroom)
5,000 Miles, 8 Countries: The Path to the U.S. Through One Family’s Eyes, The New York Times
A year-long documentation of a family’s journey from Central America to the United States, gaining their trust to tell an intimate, rarely seen story.
Press contact: Andrew Sherry, press@nahj.org, (315) 954-7571
About the National Association of Hispanic Journalists
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) is the largest organization of Latino journalists in the United States and is dedicated to the recognition and professional advancement of Hispanics in the news industry. Established in April 1984, NAHJ created a national voice and unified vision for all Hispanic journalists. The mission of NAHJ is to increase the number of Latinos in newsrooms and to work toward fair and accurate representation of Latinos in news media. NAHJ has more than 3,500 members, including working journalists, journalism students, other media-related professionals, and journalism educators. For more information, please visit NAHJ.org or follow us on X @NAHJ.