Valencia County News-Bulletin staff wins New Mexico Press Association awards; Clara Garcia elected president

ALBUQUERQUE — The staff at the Valencia County News-Bulletin received numerous awards in the New Mexico Press Association’s 2024 Better Newspaper Context.

The awards were presented at the NMPA’s 115th annual convention held at The Clyde Hotel in Albuquerque this past weekend. More than 1,023 entries were submitted by 23 newspapers from across New Mexico for consideration in this year’s contest.

Members from the Nevada Press Association judged this year’s contest.

The News-Bulletin competes in the Weekly Class 1 Division. NMPA members entered their best editorial content and ads published between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024.

Assistant editor Julia M. Dendinger brought home three awards, including first place in the Environmental or Agricultural Writing category for her story on Sigma Clean Water.

“This news feature offers a deep and engaging look into an emerging environmental technology, also informing readers about PFAs and its impact on their community,” the judge wrote about the article. “The concepts are well-explained and enrich the company owners’ narrative.”

Dendinger also swept the Obituary News category, bringing home both the first and second place awards.

She won first place for an article she wrote about the death of James Garley, a decorated veteran and former commander of the VFW Daniel D. Fernandez Post 9676 in Los Lunas.

“This is a touching piece on the passing of an important community figure,” the judge wrote. “Very well written; kudos to the author for a fantastic job.”

Dendinger’s second-place award was for a story she wrote about Eliana Alderete, a young woman in Los Lunas who died earlier this year after a life-long battle with pulmonary hypertension.

“This gave me chills when I read it,” the judge wrote. “Very well done.”

Staff writer Felina Martinez brought home two awards — one for her writing and another for her photography skills.

Martinez took home a second-place award in the Business Writing category for a story about tax revenues from recreational cannabis sales.

“An excellent look at the divide between state and local governments over the disbursement of revenue from cannabis sales,” the judge wrote. “The article uses facts and figures to show the disconnect between the state and local municipalities and raises questions about the fairness of the revenue split from recreational marijuana sales.

“A great example of informing the public by bringing attention to an issue, which hopefully leads to future action.”

Martinez also won second place in the Online Photo Gallery category for her photos at Tomé Hill on Good Friday.

Jesse Jones, a former News-Bulletin fellow, also won first place in the Feature Photo category for a scene he captured in a photo at the World’s Largest Matanza.

“Amazing light and composition. The backlit steam is what makes it work ...”

The staff at the News-Bulletin also brought home second-place awards in two of the most important categories in the state-wide contest — Best News Coverage and General Excellence.

In the Best News Coverage category, the judge wrote about the News-Bulletin, saying, “Nice community paper with a wide range of articles ... The competition was very tight ...”

In the General Excellence category, the judge said, “ In a really close call for runner-up, the News-Bulletin rises to second place because of its strong design and photography, and excellent use of photography throughout the newspaper. A really strong mix of community-focused features and news each week.”

Clara Garcia, the editor and publisher of the News-Bulletin, was elected to serve as president of the New Mexico Press Association at this year’s convention. She has served on the board of directors for 10 years, and served as president in 2020.

“I’m grateful for the confidence the membership has in me to lead this important organization,” Garcia said. “We have a lot of plans for the upcoming year, including being active in the upcoming legislative session.

“Our first and most important task is searching and hiring a new executive director after our fearless leader, Sammy Lopez, passed away earlier this month,” Garcia added. “We have a lot of work to do, and I’m looking forward to serving as president.”

The NMPA membership also elected the following members to the board of directors: Carol Clark, Los Alamos Daily Post, first vice president; Belinda Mills, Southwest regional senior publisher, Las Cruces Bulletin and Desert Exposure, second vice president; Frank Leto, general manager of El Rito Media; secretary-treasurer; Barbara Beck, publisher of the Roswell Daily Record, past president; and members Nick Seibel, publisher of the Silver City Daily Press and Deming Headlight; Donn Friedman, assistant managing editor at the Albuquerque Journal; John Miller, editor at the Taos News; Elva Osterreich, editor at the Alamogordo News; Pat Free, advertising director with the Eastern New Mexico News and Quay County Sun; and Patrick Dorsey, publisher at the Santa Fe New Mexican.

The board of directors also unanimously voted to approve renaming the NMPA Foundation’s annual college journalism workshop after Lopez, who is a native of Jarales and began his career with the News-Bulletin.

Lopez went on to work at a lot of newspapers across the state, was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame, was a member of the New Mexico Foundation of Open Government’s board of directors and a past Dixon award winner. He also served as the executive director of NMPA since 2019 until his death.