FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 14, 2021
The Fidler Family And NAHJ Announce Scholarship For Afro-Latino Students In Honor Of The Late Award-winning Reporter Ada Lourdes Fidler; The Inaugural Scholarship To Be Awarded Beginning The 2022-2023 School Year
Washington, D.C. – The Fidler family and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists announced today the creation of a scholarship awarded to Afro-Latino students pursuing careers in English and Spanish-language journalism in honor of the late Ada Lourdes Fidler (née Vigo).
The NAHJ Ada Lourdes Vigo Afro-Latino Scholarship applications will open along with the other NAHJ scholarships. Scholarships will be awarded for the 2022-2023 school year. The initial scholarship agreement is for $30,000 and will be awarded to English and Spanish-language journalists.
“We’re pleased this annual scholarship will be dedicated toward the advancement of the next generation of Black Latino journalists,” said Keldy Ortiz, NAHJ National Board Member and co-chair of the NAHJ Afro-Latino Task Force. “NAHJ is honored to preserve the legacy of a journalist such as Ada Lourdes Vigo in a way that increases a successful and equitable future.”
“The NAHJ scholarship for Afro-Latino students is a fitting memorial for Ada. She was a proud mestizo whose heritage included the indigenous people of Peru, Africans from Nigeria and Angola who were brought to the country as slaves, and Spaniards who participated in the conquest of Latin America,” Roger Fidler lovingly recalled. “During her 32 years living in the United States, she always felt a strong kinship with Black Americans, Native Americans, and other Latinos.”
Ada Vigo was born on July 31, 1956, in Lima, Peru. Her parents had moved to Lima from Trujillo in northern Peru a few years earlier. They were poor, but they put a high value on education. Through their efforts, she was able to attend a private all-girls high school in which most courses were taught by American teachers in English. She also enrolled in summer courses where she learned French, Italian, and German.
After graduating with honors, she attended San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas, where she received the equivalent of a master’s degree in journalism. As a student, she earned money and gained experience working as a reporter and news reader for radio and television stations. Upon graduation in 1980, El Comercio, which at the time was Peru’s largest and most prestigious newspaper, hired her to be one of its first female reporters. Her assignment was to cover the shanty towns that surrounded Lima. During her eight years with the paper, she dedicated herself to making politicians aware of and responsive to the needs of people who lived in the shanty towns. Several international organizations including UNICEF recognized her efforts with prestigious awards. As much as she took pride in her work as a journalist, she found her true joy outside of the newspaper singing Peruvian Creole songs at peñas (informal music halls), events, and radio stations.
Because of her faculty with languages, the paper frequently assigned her to interpret for foreign visitors. One such visitor in 1987 was Roger Fidler, then director of a global news graphics service owned by Knight-Ridder, one of the largest U.S. newspaper chains. Their meeting would dramatically change the course of her life. It was love at first sight. Two year later, they married in Miami. As Fidler rose within Knight-Ridder, they had opportunities to travel together around the world for conferences and meetings. Wherever they went, her language skills, congenial personality, and singing talent made friends and opened doors. While she no longer pursued a journalism career, she continued to help Spanish-speaking immigrants as an interpreter for the courts after they moved to Columbia, Missouri, in 2004. Tragically, a debilitating illness cut Ada’s life short in May 2021.
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About the NAHJ
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists is the largest organization of Latino journalists in the United States and dedicated to the recognition and professional advancement of Hispanics in the news industry. The mission of NAHJ is to increase the number of Latinos in the newsrooms and to work toward fair and accurate representation of Latinos in the news media. Established in April 1984, NAHJ created a national voice and unified vision for all Hispanic journalists. NAHJ has over 4,300 members, including working journalists, journalism students, other media-related professionals, and journalism educators. For more information please visit NAHJ.org or follow on Twitter @NAHJ.
Media Contact:
BA Snyder
Veritas Group for NAHJ
512.630.6337
BA@TheVeritasWay.com