PHOENIX, AZ -- (Marketwire) -- 05/26/12 -- KJZZ's Fronteras: the Changing America Desk has won its first national award for reporting. The National Headliner Awards are among the oldest awards of journalistic merit in the United States.

The story by KJZZ Senior Field Correspondent Michel Marizco, "The Drug War and Cartels Lead to an Exodus in Northern Mexico," was broadcast in June 2011 and can be found online at fronterasdesk.org.

KJZZ's Marizco traveled to the Mexican state of Sonora to report on the towns that are emptying out due to drug-related violence. The town of Tubutama, in particular, has been affected by a narco-trafficker known as "El Gilo." Marizco spent time with the remaining residents of Tubutama, a 300-year-old mission town, and even found himself face-to-face with El Gilo.

"Any time a local drug lord shows up and talks to you on a piece, you know it's going to be a great story," said Fronteras Senior Editor Alisa Barba, who edited the story and shares in the award.

"Marizco has a habit of showing up at the right place and the right time," Barba said. "He really got to the essence of the fear and the violence in the hills of Sonora."

The Tucson-based reporter said he wanted to do a story about the places affected by the drug war that aren't making headlines.

"This town had always interested me because a year prior El Gilo had successfully killed cartel members. He left 21 people dead and destroyed their vehicles in an ambush," Marizco said. Photos of those shot-up vehicles are part of the online version of the story.

"Nobody else is telling these stories," Barba said. "This is our territory with Fronteras."

The story was awarded second place in the Feature and Human Interest Story category for broadcast radio networks and syndicates.

Founded in 1934 by the Press Club of Atlantic City, the National Headliner Awards program is one of the oldest and largest annual contests recognizing journalistic merit in the communications industry.

KJZZ's Fronteras: Changing America Desk is a collaboration of seven public radio stations, in partnership between KJZZ and KPBS in San Diego and funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Fronteras serves nearly one million public radio listeners in the Southwest. To learn more about the KJZZ's Fronteras: Changing America Desk, visit fronterasdesk.org. KJZZ is a listener-supported public radio station that is licensed to the Maricopa Community College District. It is as a community service of Rio Salado College's Division of Public Service, which also includes KBAQ 89.5 and Sun Sounds of Arizona. KJZZ features a mix of local and NPR news, entertainment, jazz and blues -- serving more than 306,000 weekly listeners.

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