Second place in the category of best general interest column writing. The Best of the West contest draws entries from newspapers, magazines and online publications from the Rockies to Alaska and Hawaii. Its categories are not divided by a publication's circulation size.  

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Best of the West said Carmen “paints portraits of people with words. Through well-placed quotes and rich descriptions, she reveals subtleties of human behavior. Lovely prose and writing.” 

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Carmen was honored for her "Heart in the San Joaquin" columns. Her three entries told the stories of a double-amputee Marine cycling across America, a 102-year-old Fresno benefactor who was friends with writer William Saroyan, and inmates who train shelter dogs.

Carmen is the recipient of numerous awards in the annual California contest — including more than 20 first, second or third place awards — in the following categories:

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• Writing / profiles / features / news / general interest column writing / environmental reporting / wildfire features / land-use reporting / public service journalism / sports features / investigative reporting / coverage of protests and racial justice news or feature stories / coverage of youth and education / coverage of local government / breaking news / COVID-19 pandemic profiles / photography / page layout and design

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Additionally, newsrooms that Carmen worked in were recognized with coveted General Excellence awards more than half a dozen times while she was on staff.

What judges said about a few of her winning stories:

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• “Excellent long-term reporting effort with extensive research, and lots of faces making this real.” — 1st place, land-use reporting, for a series about Yosemite officials forcing residents from their homes in the El Portal Trailer Park. The top stories in this category were chosen for being “the most successful in reporting on the critically important topic of land use in a way that engaged the reader while giving depth, scope and put a face on topics that can by nature be dry, heavy reporting.” 

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• “A real tear-jerker, told with compassion and care. Well organized and clearly presented. Overall exceptional package.” — 1st place, feature stories, for “Clovis teacher’s students rally to give her ‘year of a lifetime’ as she battles cancer”

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• “Very well done. Could have taken sides and never did.” — 1st place, coverage of protests and racial justice news or feature stories, for “Hangtree and Spook lanes in Madera County may be renamed. But not everyone agrees”

Twice awarded McClatchy's premier journalism award that annually recognizes the best journalism from throughout the company's newsrooms across the United States.

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Carmen was recognized for reporting about the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians disenrolling many of its members after the tribe built its casino, and for a story she wrote about what's happened to Yosemite's Native Americans over the past 150 years. That story was part of the award-winning series marking Yosemite's 150th anniversary.

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“Anniversary stories are difficult to pull off,” the judges wrote, “but The Fresno Bee employed superb writing, videos, photos, historical research and true imagination to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the nation's most popular national park. ... Between the high quality of the writing and selection of topics, this was a project that shows how these important community commemorations ought to be done.” 

Third place nationally for news reporting in the organization's associate category. Carmen was recognized for the story she wrote about Yosemite's Native American community as part of the series marking Yosemite's 150th anniversary.

A winner or finalist eight times in the categories of feature story, news story and public service journalism during an annual regional journalism competition in California's central San Joaquin Valley. 

Part of a team that received an honorary mention in the category of student reporting. The Grace Case reporting project at the University of Montana, Missoula provided innovative, live coverage of a major ongoing environmental criminal trial, centered on the asbestos poisoning of a rural Montana mining town by W.R. Grace and Co., a chemical corporation.

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Carmen's work with the Grace Case project led to her internship, working to develop and report for Et Al News, a collaboration between the University of Montana's schools of law and journalism to cover environmental criminal trials across the country.

Carmen was chosen to present the UM Grace Case project's reporting work at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research.