About us: L.A. Youth’s achievements and recognitions

What awards has L.A. Youth won?
Among L.A. Youth’s top honors are:

At the 2005 Los Angeles Times High School Journalism Awards, L.A. Youth won Second place, Illustration, for "Reality TV" by Larry Zamel, Fairfax HS; and Honorable Mention, Features, for "Cutting away the pain," by Karina Onofre, The Linden Center; Honorable Mention, Photography, for "Behind our music," by Valentina Cardenas, Ramona Convent. Additionally, Marvin Novelo’s story "Gay and so alone" won Honorable Mention for the Frank Del Olmo Impact Award, given for students’ work that resulted in a change at the school campus or in the community.

At the 2004 Los Angeles Times High School Journalism Awards, L.A. Youth won Second place, News, for "Behind the Gate," by Emily Polanco-Barahona, Manual Arts HS; and Third place, Features, for "Ringling Bros. clown has the greatest job on Earth," by Leiti Hsu, Whitney HS.

At the 2002 Los Angeles Times High School Journalism Awards, L.A. Youth won First place, News, for "New Leadership, New Rules at Locke High," by Bianca Gallegos of Marshall HS; Second place, Illustration, for "Mother to son," by Oscar Rodriguez; Honorable Mention, Features, for "I’m a regular girl," by Tory Fine of Marlborough School.

L.A. Youth reporter Ambar Espinoza was chosen as the 2001 National Press Club Persina Scholarship Winner, and received $20,000. She also won the 2001 Hispanic Heritage Foundation’s NBC Literature/Journalism Award for $2,000.

L.A. Youth reporter Gohar Galyan won the 2000 Student Impact Award, 3rd place, from the National Journalism Education Association. The winning article described problems in her school and district, resulting in her being selected by the Los Angeles Unified School District Board as the only student member of the committee which created criteria for selecting the new superintendent in December 1999.

L.A. Youth’s Executive Director Donna Myrow was honored with the YWCA’s Silver Achievement Award in Communications in May 1999.

L.A. Youth reporter Josie Valderrama was named the 1991 Outstanding Youth Volunteer by the Southern California Association for Philanthropy

For her L.A. Youth article on the rights of teen mental patients, Joy Shioshita won a $5,000 scholarship in 1989 toward her UC Berkeley education.

What do teachers say about L.A. Youth?
"I really believe the students gain a great deal of knowledge and interest from your student articles."
R. Woolsey, Bishop Amat High School (La Puente)

"Believe me, we read it word for word. It is so great."
G. Poe, Palos Verdes Peninsula HS

"I leave the paper out for students to read in my office. Students do read it and because of L.A. Youth, two students decided to join journalism at SGHS."
K. Carrillo, school nurse, San Gabriel HS

"L.A. Youth has been well-received by our students for a number of years, so having you here to represent the newspaper was quite a treat! Accurate, objective reporting by journalists is so crucial in times of war. Your presentations on this topic were well-received by our students and so important for them to hear."
Chuck Broslawsky and Rhona Feldman, Valley Alternative School (Van Nuys)

"I am a seventh grade teacher at Nimitz Middle School in Huntington Park, and I have never seen my students so engrossed in any activity as they are in reading your newspaper. In addition to covering issues that are important to young people, your newspaper provides a model of wonderful writing done by students only slightly older than mine are. It really helps them to have writing they can aspire to emulate."
Nicole Niedereppe, Nimitz Middle School (Huntington Park)

"Thank you for providing students with informative and interesting material to read."
Melanie Graf, Sierra Vista HS (Baldwin Park)

"I depend on the paper. The kids love it. It is most helpful with my low-end students who have little interest in the school curriculum. When they hear about real students writing about real things, they want to read. I have even had success in getting students to write letters to the editor."
T. Aston, Mount Gleason MS (Sunland)

"No sooner did I write you [about renewing my subscription] than the Sept.-October issue showed up at my door, AND with a long article from one of my former CAMS juniors. Keep up the good work!"
M. Denman, California Academy of Math and Science (Carson)

"You have a tremendous effect on these kids, you really do… Your paper has been a godsend because your articles have information the kids can really use. When you did that section on how to get a social security number, kids took that home. I had one student who came and told me, ‘You know what, Mr. Gomez, I got a job’ [from a listing she saw in the paper]."
Ben Gomez, former Fairfax HS Spanish teacher

"My kids are not terribly intellectual. They need models of what teens are doing around the city. The stories I have seen in here–Teen prostitution, teen addicts, surviving your parents’ divorce, strangers in a strange land… L.A. Youth has to model these kinds of stories for us. We need L.A. Youth to take on the big issues that principals are afraid of…"
Mark Holzband, Fairfax HS, former journalism advisor

Where have L.A. Youth articles been reprinted?
Articles have been reprinted in the Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio, the New York Times’ Upfront magazine, American Journalism Review, the Los Angeles Daily News, Korea Times, Rafu Shimpo, Youth Radio, Wiretap.org, Tolerance.org, Latinola.com, the Western Journal of Medicine and other media.