Frank del Olmo’s journey to a Pulitzer Prize
Frank del Olmo is best known for his work on Latin American affairs at the Los Angeles Times. He was born in Pacoima, California in 1948 and grew up in the housing projects of the Los Angeles County. He went to college at the University of California Los Angeles but later on decided to transfer over to nearby school which was California State University, Northridge. During his time in school he studied journalism.
Frank del Olmo like any other student had to start off as an intern. He worked his way up to become a staff writer, columnist, editorial assistant, and eventually became an editor for the Los Angeles Times. His news stories were primarily composed of issues that effected the Latino community. The issues included, but were not limited to immigration and labor laws.
I was very lucky to explore the Frank del Olmo collection at California State University, Northridge. As I was going through Frank del Olmo archives I discovered that he did extensive research before writing a story. Every story he wrote was followed by a case study to support his claims. I learned that this was what being a good journalist is. You have to conduct extensive research about your subject before actually writing a story about it. I also learned that note taking is super important and can be very tedious. It was interesting to see how well kept Frank del Olmo’s notes were after all these years. His notes date back as far as 1977. Unfortunately, I was not able to make out his notes. I think that if anyone ever gets the chance to, they should check out the collection at the Oviatt Library at California State University, Northridge.
What intrigued me about Frank del Olmo was that he too was an average student at California State University, Northridge and was able to make his dreams a reality. He worked hard to obtain a position at the Los Angeles Times and dedicated his life to writing and reporting about the injustice that Latino community faced. His hard work payed off and led him to write a series of stories with his team at the Los Angeles Times called “Southern California’s Latino Community.” This series won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1984. Frank del Olmo’s story is truly inspiring and is one I hope that other students will be able to hear about it and take inspiration from.
