Mexican-American photojournalist Zaydee Sanchez awarded the 2025 American Mosaic Journalism Prize

Los Angeles-based photojournalist and writer Zaydee Sanchez has received the prestigious $100,000 American Mosaic Journalism Prize for her powerful coverage of underrepresented communities, including migrant farmers and transgender Latinx groups.

A panel of 10 judges, which include journalists from the Associated Press, NBC News, NPR, Columbia Journalism Review and The 19th News, among others—selected this year’s recipients. The Heising-Simons Foundation has additionally announced that this year’s journalism prize features the largest monetary award in the United States. The prize is awarded for excellence in long-form, narrative or deep reporting about underrepresented or misrepresented groups.

Sanchez’s experience growing up in Tulare, an agricultural town in California’s San Joaquin Valley, inspired much of her work. Her June 2023 story for Mother Jones, “Pajaro’s quest to rebuild,” chronicled the struggles of a predominantly Latino farming community in Pajaro,

California, to rebuild their town and their lives after a devastating flood. Her work has been published in leading publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and National Geographic.

As of today, Sanchez has joined a distinguished group of past recipients of this prestigious award from across the country, including Cerise Castle, Darcy Courteau, David Dennis Jr., Valeria Fernández, Michelle García, Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, Ryan Christopher Jones, Tamir Kalifa,  Jaeah Lee, Dara T. Mathis, Rebecca Nagle, Julian Brave NoiseCat, Abe Streep and Carvell Wallace.

“This year, we walk into the unknown, a path that many in my community fear,” said Sanchez. “We do not know what lies ahead or who will be impacted. In this uncertainty, I feel a deep responsibility to keep the focus on the migrant community.”