Times Photographer Wins Salazar Award

The California Chicano News Media Assn. awarded Los Angeles Times photographer Annie Wells its 1999 Ruben Salazar Award for photojournalism Friday.

The awards are given to California journalists “whose work exemplifies excellence while contributing to the fair and accurate portrayal of Latinos in the media,” the Los Angeles-based group said.

Wells won for her photograph of a Nicaraguan man mourning the loss of 72 relatives to Hurricane Mitch.

The photo was beautifully composed, the association’s judges said, adding: “Wells captured a moment when even the man’s horse had its head down, making the mood of the photo one of overall sadness.”

Los Angeles Times Director of Photography Larry Armstrong said: “You could feel this person’s loss when you see the photograph--the man with his sloping shoulders and his head down. In its simplicity, it really told the story.”

The awards are named after Salazar, who at the time of his death in 1970 was a Los Angeles Times columnist and news director of Spanish-language KMEX-TV.

Other winners were Jon Beaupre of National Public Radio’s Latino USA program; freelance TV reporter Carmen Escobosa and cameraman Hector Gonzalez; and reporters Edwin Garcia and Ben Stocking of the San Jose Mercury News.