She’s used to reporting the news… But this time around, Maria Hinojosa is making headlines for her noted journalism career.

The 51-year-old Mexican-born journalist has been named the winner of the 2012 John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism, announced Columbia University‘s Graduate School of Journalism on Wednesday.

Hinojosa, who has already won three Emmys for her work in television news, is a prominent member of the Hispanic journalistic community in the United States, after her work on CNN and her current work for PBS and National Public Radio.

The award was created in honor of long-time NBC News anchor John Chancellor.

Hinojosa was chosen “in recognition of the courage and independence she has shown over the course of her career reporting on those whose stories might not otherwise make it into the mainstream media,” the journalism school said.

Born in Mexico City and raised in Chicago, Hinojosa hosts the programs Latino USA on NPR and Need to Know on PBS.

Among the subjects Hinojosa has covered are immigrants’ jobs in New Orleans after the passage of Hurricane Katrina; rape in the U.S. Armed Forces; the lives of poor people and youth violence in immigrant communities.

The prize, which comes with a cash stipend of $25,000, will be presented at a November 14 ceremony at Columbia‘s Low Library in New York.