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Cal Poly Humboldt’s student-run bilingual newspaper El Leñador and its staff won a number of awards, including the “People’s Choice” award in Best of Show, at a college newspaper conference earlier this month.

The paper published in English and Spanish was also recognized with first place wins for Best Special Issue/Section, Best Arts and Entertainment Story and Best Illustration along with more nods to the staff’s work in photography, infographics and feature writing.

“El Leñador was rewarded for all of our passion and hard work. It filled my journalist soul with happiness and excitement to do more,” said Co-editor in Chief Karina Ramos Villalobos, who won the first place award for Best Arts and Entertainment story.

Ramos Villalobos joined El Leñador reporter Ricardo Lara Nava and public relations manager Steffi Puerto in presenting a workshop at the Associated Collegiate Press conference about their work putting out a monthly bilingual publication that focuses its coverage on Latinx and diverse communities.

“El Leñador strives to publish local Spanish news because of the lack of information to local Spanish speakers in Humboldt County,” Lara Nava said. “We are a small team who wear many hats to get the newspaper out.”

Read more about El Leñador and the paper’s awards below:

ARCATA, CA - El Leñador, the student-run bilingual newspaper at Cal Poly Humboldt, won the first-place “People’s Choice” award in Best of Show at the Associated Collegiate Press national conference in Long Beach on March 5. The newspaper also won three first-place awards in the 2022 California College Media Association statewide competition and these awards were presented at the same conference.

The English and Spanish newspaper, which focuses on covering Latinx and diverse communities, took first-place awards for Best Special Issue/Section, Best Arts and Entertainment Story, and Best Illustration. Staff also won five additional awards.

“El Leñador was rewarded for all of our passion and hard work. It filled my journalist soul with happiness and excitement to do more,” said Co-editor in Chief Karina Ramos Villalobos, who also won the first-place award for Best Arts and Entertainment story.

El Leñador staff, Ramos Villalobos, reporter Ricardo Lara Nava, and public relations manager Steffi Puerto also held a workshop at the ACP conference about how they produce a bilingual college news publication.

“El Leñador strives to publish local Spanish news because of the lack of information to local Spanish speakers in Humboldt County,” Lara Nava said. “We are a small team who wear many hats to get the newspaper out.”

About El Leñador

El Leñador is an award-winning monthly bilingual news publication. You can find El Leñador online at ellenadornews.com or the print editions distributed on campus and in Arcata, Eureka, Fortuna, McKinleyville, and Trinidad. In 2016, El Leñador was named Best Non-weekly Newspaper by the California College Media Association and the “Best All-Around Student Newspaper” in Region 11 by the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2020 Mark of Excellence competition.

2022 Associated Collegiate Press Spring National College Media Conference

First Place

People’s Choice: Newspaper

Best of Show Award Competition

Third Place

Newspaper / Four-year campus, 10,000 students or fewer

Best of Show Award Competition

2022 CCMA awards

First Place Awards

Best Special Issue/Section - El Leñador Staff - La Leñadora: Women’s Issue

Best Arts and Entertainment Story - Karina Ramos Villalobos - Local Nigerian reggae musician Ju Drum uses his platform for social justice message

Best Illustration - Raven Marshall - May 2021 Cover: COVID-19: What you need to know right now

Second Place Awards

Infographic - Sergio Berrueta, Nancy Garcia, Alexandra Gonzalez - What you need to know about COVID-19 now

Feature Photograph - Ricardo Lara Nava - BIPOC Surfer

News Photograph - Lupita Rivera - Justice for Josiah: Four years later, the fight continues

Third Place Awards

Feature Story - Ricardo Lara Nava - Eureka Chinatown Project