Oakland Tribune photographer Ray Chavez this week was named the winner of the prestigious Ruben Salazar Journalism Photography Award.

The award is one of many Chavez recently has won for his work on a series of photographs that documented the lives of a group of Guatemalan Mayan men in the Bay Area and the families they left behind in Guatemala.

"I was very surprised," Chavez said. "It goes to only one photographer a year, and I was the lucky one to win it."

Ruben Salazar Journalism Awards are sponsored by the California Chicano News Media Association: Latino Journalists of California and recognize work published or broadcast in California that exemplifies journalistic excellence while contributing to a better understanding of Latinos.

Awards are given in four categories — print, television, photography and radio — and will be presented at CCNMA's 28th Scholarship Banquet on June 6 in Los Angeles. The awards are named after the late Ruben Salazar, who at the time of his death in 1970 was a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and news director of Spanish-language television station KMEX in Los Angeles.

Chavez, who said he had never entered the contest before, said he was spurred on to enter this year by the writer of the series, Matt O'Brien, and his editor for the project, Mike Oliver. Chavez said the award is meaningful because of all the great reporting done on Latino's in the state.

"It's very special,"

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Chavez said.

Nick Lammers, director of photography at Bay Area Newsgroup-East Bay, said he believes the award was well deserved.

"Ray poured himself into this project, spending countless hours on an important story that has an effect on many lives," Lammers said. "The end result was received with rave reviews."

Chavez also recently took home first place for his picture story "Torn Between Two Worlds" and second place in the same category for "The Deported" in the Associated Press California/Nevada Newswriting and Photo contest. Earlier this year, he took third place in the Photography Portfolio category in the National Headliner Awards, which will have its banquet Saturday in Atlantic City.

Chavez also has been nominated as the National Association of Hispanic Journalists' photojournalist of the year. That award will be announced later this summer.

Chavez hopes all the awards and attention he has received also lead to one other thing.

"I hope there is a generous raise for me," he chuckled.

Reach Chris Metinko at 510-763-5418 or cmetinko@bayareanewsgroup.com.