Capital & Main and the L.A. Times Win Sidney Award for Series on Child Farmworkers
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The Los Angeles Times and Capital & Main have won the December Sidney Award from the Sidney Hillman Foundation for the two-part series on California’s child farmworkers. Reported by independent journalist Robert J. Lopez, with photography by Barbara Davidson and graphics from Times senior data and graphics journalist Lorena Iñiguez Elebee, the investigation exposed child labor abuses on California farms and the lack of regulatory oversight.
“These reporters uncovered a regulatory system in disarray,” said Sidney judge Lindsay Beyerstein in an announcement. “California is failing these young workers.”
Following the series’ publication, California officials announced they were launching new enforcement actions to protect underage farmworkers, including enhanced coordination among two state agencies charged with inspecting work conditions in the fields.
The series was produced in partnership with Capital & Main, a California-based nonprofit investigative news publication and the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. It was supported by the California Health Care Foundation and the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
The Sidney Hillman Foundation honors excellence in journalism in service of the common good. The Sidney Award is given monthly in recognition of outstanding investigative journalism that exposes social and economic injustices. In July, The Times was recognized for its coverage of the ICE raids in Los Angeles. To learn more, visit hillmanfoundation.org.
