The America Desk reporter Silvia Foster-Frau was honored with the 2022 National Association of  Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) Elaine Rivera Award for Civil Rights and Social Justice. It is a recognition of her efforts to clarify little covered issues related to race, ethnicity, and identity.

The NAHJ Elaine Rivera Civil Rights and Social Justice Award recognizes excellence in covering Latin American civil rights and/or social justice issues for Latinos.

According to The Washington Post, “In 2021, as the nation was reeling from the racial reckoning that focused on police brutality against Black Americans, Silvia investigated the largely untold crisis of police violence against Latinos. For her story, Silvia utilized The Washington Post’s police shooting database and found that Latinos are killed by police at nearly double the rate of White Americans but have been largely left out of the conversation about police brutality. Some Latino victims are categorized as Black or White, she found”.

For The Post publication, on June 2, 2021, Silvia wrote: “Experts cite several reasons the Latino community has often been left out of the debate about policing and reform. The historical legacy of police brutality against Black people is well-known and documented, dating back to the slave patrols. Many Americans view immigration as the primary concern of Latinos. The lack of a standardized system for reporting police killings means that Latino victims are often categorized as Black or White. In addition, Latinos as a group include a variety of cultures with different lived experiences”.

Silvia’s work has already been recognized by the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors, Religion News Association and National Headliners Awards.

Galesburg native, Silvia Foster-Frau is a multiculturalism reporter for The Washington Post. Before that she was an immigration reporter for the San Antonio Express-News. She was selected for the Hearst Journalism Fellowship and worked at Hearst Connecticut Media Group and San Antonio Express News. While a student at Galesburg High School she wrote a column for The Register-Mail. She graduated from Grinnell College. She’s the daughter of Tim Foster and Flor Frau of Galesburg.