Ben de la Cruz
Ben de la Cruz is an award-winning visual journalist and editor. Since joining NPR in 2012, he has served as a visual architect for coverage of global health, development, science, environment, energy, food and agriculture.
In 2014-15, he directed NPR’s multimedia coverage of the Ebola outbreak, including Life After Death, which chronicled how one small Liberian village was changed by the deadly disease. The project won a World Press Award for Immersive Storytelling. As part of the global health team, he also shared in a Peabody Award for reporting from the frontlines in West Africa.
Ben began his career as a multimedia journalist at washingtonpost.com in January 2000. During his 12-year career there, he helped create the newspaper industry’s groundbreaking multimedia site, Camera Works. Along the way, he managed the dozen-person multimedia and video departments, overseeing feature and news reporting.
Ben’s series of 12 short documentaries about racial identity for the Being a Black Man project won a Peabody Award in 2007. The award marked the first time a newspaper won what is widely considered as the Pulitzer Prize of broadcast journalism. His work has also been recognized with an Edward R. Murrow Award, three National Emmy Award nominations and a Scripps Howard Award for excellence in online reporting.
Ben is a sought-after speaker. He has led multimedia workshops and guest lectured at the University of California (Berkeley), University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), University of Miami, Poynter, National Press Photographers Association, VII Photo Agency, Corcoran College of Art, Hong Kong Baptist University and Fudan University in Shanghai.
Prior to joining The Washington Post, Ben worked as an independent producer for public television, a print reporter covering the Internet industry, a freelance photography reviewer for Photo District News magazine. He has also co-produced and written songs released by Sony Music, Dischord and DCide Records.
Born in Manila, Ben lives with his wife Genevieve Villamora and six-year-old son, Javier, in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C.