El Rito Media won 43 awards among its five newspapers at the New Mexico Press Association banquet in Alburquerque.
Held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, the annual dinner on Saturday, Oct. 17 honored the state’s best news, sports, features, photo and advertising at daily and weekly newspapers throughout the state.
Awards were categorized in the four classes.
Daily Class 1 honored papers printing three times a week or more with circulation of 5,000 or more, while Daily Class 2 included papers with the same frequency at 5,000 circulation or less.
Weekly Class 1 was for papers printing once or twice a week at 5,000 circulation or more and Weekly Class 2 was the same frequency, 5,000 or less.
El Rito Media was led by the Ruidoso News, which won 18 awards ranging from digital breaking news, best website, advertising campaign and photography.
First places for the Ruidoso News included news writing for Todd Fuqua’s story on a catastrophic flood in summer 2025, feature writing for Richard Coltharp’s profile on Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford, news writing for the staff’s overall coverage of the recent floods and sports photo for Todd Fuqua’s picture of Faith Roper.
The Carlsbad Current-Argus won 10 awards in categories such as news writing, feature writing, environmental reporting and advertising.
First place wins for the Current-Argus were for environmental reporting for a story on a rash of oil and gas spills in the region and for best website.
The Rio Grande Sun in Espanola took home seven awards in news coverage, columns, obituary writing and classifieds.
The Rio Grande Sun won first place for obituary writing for a story on a local woman known as “Mrs. J,” who passed away at 94.
Four awards were brought home by the Alamogordo News, including first place in Sports Writing, second place in Best Website and second place in General News Photo.
Artesia Daily Press won first place place for Digital Breaking News for coverage of an explosion at the Navajo Refinery in downtown Artesia and first place for an editorial about the newspaper’s strained relationship with Artesia General Hospital.
El Rito Editor and Publisher Richard Connor said the wins were further indication that the company’s efforts to restore local newspapers in New Mexico was working.
He especially pointed wins in digital-based categories as a sign of El Rito’s place in the future of New Mexico journalism.
El Rito was formed in 2022 with the purchase of the Rio Grande Sun, followed by acquisition of the Artesia Daily Press in 2023.
In June 2024, El Rito bought the Alamogordo News, Ruidoso News and Carlsbad Current-Argus from Gannett, and started the online-only Roswell Tribune in July 2026.
“We are incredibly proud of our local journalists who have worked hard at not only providing informative, local coverage of their communities, but also efforts to meet readers where they are: online and on social media,” Connor said.
