Former Reporter Receives City’s Highest Honor

City Council today awarded Joe Olvera the Conquistador Award, the city’s highest award, for his contributions to the city of El Paso.

Olvera is a former journalist for the El Paso Times and El Paso Herald-Post.

Here is how Olvera described himself in Newspapertree two years ago:

“”I started in 1971 as El Paso’s first Chicano t.v. reporter when I worked for Channel 4 News, then-KROD-TV. After that, I wrote columns for such newspapers as El Paseno, Nosotros Magazine, Hispanic Link, and others. In 1982, I went to work for the Herald-Post as a reporter/columnist. I left that post to run for Mayor in 1985. In 1987, I went back to newspapering with the Times, where I lasted for seven years. Prior to this, however, I had my own newspaper called The El Paso Reporter. Actually, five El Paso business heavies owned the paper. I was just the editor. Those heavies included Richie Telles, Alfonso Perez, George McAlmon, Dr. Joe Mendoza, and Moe Beltran. However, the paper folded and I went to work with the Times. I also worked for USA Today in 1990 as one of the editors on the Across the USA Page. My column was syndicated or distributed by Gannett News Service for about four years. I’ve also written for Newspaper Tree, El Paso Magazine, Rio Views Magazine, The Frontier Voice, and many others.”