Valeria Fernández wins inaugural American Mosaic Journalism Prize

Valeria Fernández, a veteran independent multimedia journalist who leads an innovative Spanish-language journalism program at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, is an inaugural recipient of the American Mosaic Journalism Prize by the Heising-Simons Foundation.

She is one of two journalists to receive the honor, which includes an unrestricted cash prize of $100,000 for each winner. Independent journalist Jaeah Lee, a 2017 senior fellow at Brandeis University’s Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, is the other recipient.

The American Mosaic Journalism Prize recognizes excellence in long-form, narrative or deep reporting on stories about underrepresented and/or misrepresented groups in the present American landscape. It is awarded to two freelance journalists of print, digital, audio and/or television, based on a collection of work published or aired over the past year.

At the Cronkite School, Fernández leads Cronkite Noticias, a multiplatform news experience in which students report on important issues in Spanish. Cronkite Noticias includes a newscast that regularly airs on Univision Arizona and a multiplatform website — cronkitenoticias.org  — that focuses on education, sustainability, immigration and other issues important to the region’s Latino communities.

Fernández has been reporting on Arizona’s immigrant community and the many angles and faces of the immigration debate for more than 15 years. She has produced reports for CNN Español, CNN International, Radio Bilingue, PRI’s “The World,” Al Jazeera English, The Guardian and The Associated Press. Her recent work includes a story for the Phoenix New Times in which she detailed the mental health struggles of a new immigrant in Arizona.

“As a Latina immigrant journalist, who speaks Spanish as a first language, I'm humbled to receive this recognition,” Fernández said. “I hope it will bring attention to the voices of the women and the communities that I have dedicated my reporting on. As a professor, I can only wish it inspires students, especially students of color, to see their culture and their roots as strengths to ground their work, so they also work to listen to unrepresented voices, pursue nuanced stories, and become a force for understanding.”

Cronkite Dean Christopher Callahan called Fernández “a tremendous journalist who has made a significant impact on our region with her powerful stories about immigration and other issues of concern to Latino communities. Her example and her guidance is helping develop the next generation of Spanish-language journalists who will carry on this important work.”

Confidential nominations for the prize were sought from more than 50 journalism leaders from across the country. Recipients were selected by a panel of judges representing some of the country’s leading media outlets.

“Fernández’s work stands as testament to the trust people have in her to tell their stories with accuracy and compassion,” the judges said. “Her journalism benefits from the kind of access that comes from years of relentless beat reporting. She brings great depth to stories of people who are often the most difficult for journalists to access, including families broken apart by the immigration system, and a new immigrant’s struggles with mental health.” 

Earlier in her career, Fernández co-directed and produced “Two Americans,” a documentary that parallels the stories of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and a 9-year-old U.S. citizen whose parents were arrested by the sheriff’s deputies during a workplace immigration raid. The film won the Audience Award for Best Feature Documentary at the Arizona International Film Festival. It aired on Al Jazeera America in 2013 and was an official selection of the DocsDF Mexican Film Festival.

Fernández also co-directed six short award-winning documentaries along the U.S.-Mexico borderlands as part of the international web-documentary Connected Walls in 2014–15.

In 2015, she was a producer and reporter for the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting on a digital multimedia project that cast light on the economic and social impacts of a mine spill in Northern Mexico that broadcast in PBS, San Diego. The multimedia project won an Arizona Press Club recognition for environmental reporting.

She also is a fellow for the Adelante Initiative of the International Media Women Foundation, where she covers issues at the intersection of trauma, deportation and migration.

The Heising-Simons Foundation is a family foundation based in Los Altos, California. The foundation works with its many partners to advance sustainable solutions in climate and clean energy, enable groundbreaking research in science, enhance the education of our youngest learners, and support human rights for all people. For more information visit www.hsfoundation.org.

The Cronkite School is widely recognized as one of the nation’s premier professional journalism programs. The school’s 2,000 students regularly lead the country in national journalism competitions. They are guided by faculty comprised of award-winning professional journalists and world-class media scholars. Cronkite’s full-immersion professional programs give students opportunities to practice what they’ve learned in a real-world setting under the guidance of professionals.