Patricia Mercado Sánchez is the founder and CEO of Conexión Migrante, an independent, digital-native newsroom and civil society organization that is transforming how migration is covered and addressed in Latin America and the United States. Mercado Sánchez, who is the winner of the 2026 ICFJ News Innovation Award, delivered the following remarks on Nov. 10 at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC, at the ICFJ Awards Dinner 2026.

The transcript below has been edited slightly for clarity.

A desperate man wrote a message to Conexión Migrante. It was January 2017, and Donald Trump was just arriving to the US government. He was afraid of being deported and wanted to come back to Mexico, but he had a son born in the US, and he didn't know what to do. Fear clouded everything. But he found us, we answered and we gave him the precise information he needed.

In that moment, the magic was created, the way Conexión Migrante had decided to work. Nothing sophisticated, only the journalism basics: we investigate, we verify, we publish. We listen, we explain, we walk alongside people. Simple and patient work. Not glamorous, but essential for thousands of people who need reliable information in a world full of scams, dangers and silence. That is where we are. Pequeños, pero orgullosos. Small, but proud.

A few weeks ago, I told my fifteen-year-old son that what matters most is doing what makes him feel whole: theater, physics, singing or math. That is how journalism makes me feel. Whole.

I believe in journalism that stays close to ordinary people, to those who live the problems every day. Journalism that doesn't attack, but talks, explains and looks people in the eye.

Sustaining this work has not been easy. This recognition tells us it is worth continuing.

So, thank you. To our community, to every person who wrote to us and trusted us with their fear, their story, their hope: ustedes son la razón de existir de Conexión Migrante. You are the reason we exist.

Thank you to ICFJ and to the jury for seeing this small work and giving it a place at this table.

Thank you, Janine, for nominating me. Abel and Selene, for always being there. Gema, my sister, for putting up with me. And Carlos Miguel, the lighthouse that has guided my path all these years. We still have so much to learn together, Miguel.

Gracias. Thank you. Todos somos Migrantes. We are all Migrants.