The National Association of Hispanic Journalists announced Ingrid Ciprián-Matthews, Steve Padilla, Rafael Prieto Zartha and John Quiñones as the 2024 inductees to the NAHJ Hall of Fame. They will be honored on Saturday, July 13 at the NAHJ 40th Anniversary Conference and Expo.
The honorees represent trailblazing leadership and support that spans NAHJ’s four decades. In fact, Prieto was a vice president of the California Chicano News Media Association who helped found NAHJ in 1984.
Every year, NAHJ proudly recognizes individuals who have courageously upheld its mission to expand the number of Latinos in newsrooms and improve coverage of Latino communities. Members of NAHJ’s Hall of Fame are leaders, mentors and pioneers in the field, practicing journalistic values with distinction and inspiring others to do the same.
Ingrid Ciprián-Matthews is the first Latina president of CBS News. “By any measure, Ingrid is a great news leader,” said a letter nominating the award-winning journalist. “Her career is steeped in leading teams in how to tell global, diverse stories that strike at the core of our country’s heart. She often credits growing up in a Dominican household for helping her gain a global world view.”
John Quiñones is an ABC News correspondent who reports across“20/20,” “Nightline” and “Good Morning America.” In four decades with the network, he has earned seven national Emmys and numerous other awards. His Spanish-speaking ability and cultural insights have helped him break local and international stories and introduce national audiences to nuanced and important coverage. A former farmworker, he built a trailblazing, stellar career in TV news while always embracing his role as a model and mentor for Latino journalists.
Rafael Prieto Zartha is founder of NAHJ, the national organization conceived at a meeting of the CCNMA he helped organize in 1982, just three years after he immigrated to the U.S. from Colombia. Reporting for leading Spanish-language outlets, he has earned several national awards, including NAHJ’s 2007 Ñ Award for commentary for writing that “responded to those who sought to demonize undocumented immigrants with wit and indisputable fact.”
Steve Padilla is editor of the Los Angeles Times showcase feature Column One. For generations of journalists, he’s best known as a writing coach. “For decades,the Los Angeles Times’ Steve Padilla has been making reporters better,” a nomination letter read. “Across the country you will find journalists who have been coached by Steve one-on-one or who attended one of his invigorating writing lectures. He’s conducted workshops for CCNMA, NAHJ, National Press Club Journalism Institute, Poynter, Maynard Institute and press clubs up and down the West Coast.”
The Hall of Fame Gala is a separately ticketed event that requires the purchase of special event ticket. For inquires regarding Hall of Fame Gala ticketing, contact Isabella DiGiglio idigiglio@nahj.org.
The last day of regular registration for the NAHJ 40th Anniversary Conference & Expo is Friday, May 31. Click here to register.