Press Release

NAHJ Inducts Pioneers Cecilia Alvear, Rigo Chacón and George Ramos into its Hall of Fame

Washington – The National Association of Hispanic Journalists will induct three award-winning pioneers in California, Cecilia Alvear, Rigo Chacón and George Ramos, into the association’s Hall of Fame during its 25th anniversary convention in San Jose, Calif. June 13-16.

Created in 2000, NAHJ’s Hall of Fame honors those journalists and industry pioneers whose efforts either nationally or locally have resulted in a greater number of Latinos entering the journalism profession or have helped to improve news coverage of the nation’s Latino community.

Alvear, Chacón and Ramos will be inducted into NAHJ’s Hall of Fame during the 25th Anniversary Celebration Gala to be held at the Fairmont Plaza Hotel in downtown San Jose on Saturday, June 16 at 7 p.m.

“This trio has inspired so many young Latinos and colleagues. Cecilia, Rigo and George have dedicated their lives not just to their careers but to helping those in need, and have collectively spent more than a century fighting for better representation and coverage of our community,” said Iván Román, NAHJ’s executive director. “The breadth of their dedication and their work is truly humbling.”

Alvear, a former NAHJ president, is a true pioneer. She has been a TV producer in the Los Angeles area for all three network-owned local stations, winning an Emmy while at the local CBS station. In 1982, she became NBC’s Mexico City Bureau Chief, later serving as senior producer for Latin America and then as a field producer on the West Coast.

Alvear has covered many major news stories; among them, the wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua; the protests and elections in Chile and the Pan American Games in Havana; and all the events that have affected the Los Angeles area in recent years: riots, earthquakes, immigration and the O.J. Simpson trial.

After retiring from NBC earlier this year, she was honored by the chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. In 2000, she made the "Hispanic Business" list of the "100 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States." In 1996, she was honored by the California Chicano News Media Association (CCNMA) for her "pioneering efforts." In the 1970's and early 1980's, Alvear was a CCNMA board member and vice president. A 1988 Nieman fellow, Cecilia is a member of the Advisory Board to the Nieman Foundation for Journalists at Harvard University. She is a cancer survivor and serves on the board of "Padres Contra el Cancer," a non-profit group that helps Latino children with cancer and their families.

Chacón capped off his three Emmy wins with a lifetime achievement Emmy in 2003. His received his first Emmy as a producer at KNTV-TV (San Jose). Then in 1985, he won for excellence in general news reporting which included coverage of the Mexico City earthquake and his tribute to four friends whose names are on the Vietnam Memorial.

Chacón was with KGO-TV for 29 years, first joining in 1974 as a general assignment reporter. Chacón, who is now president of Rigo Chacón and Associates (RCA), founded Abrazos and Books in 1990 to help children around the world who are challenged by disability, poverty or who are victims of natural catastrophes.

Chacón’s work has brought him accolades from a variety of groups. The Mexican government gave him its Ohtli Award for native sons and daughters of Mexico or their descendants who have excelled on foreign soil. The San Francisco and San Jose chapters of the National Latino Peace Officers Association conferred on Chacón the rare Honorary Peace Officer status. In giving Chacón the coveted Tomas Rivera Leadership award, the National Hispanic University commended him for embracing diversity as a way of life rather than a goal.

Ramos, a three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter with the Los Angeles Times, is the chair of the Cal Poly Journalism Department, the place he credits with giving him his start in the news business. Ramos graduated from Cal Poly in 1969 and then served in the U.S. Army. He saw combat duty in Vietnam as a first lieutenant in the field artillery.

In 1978, Ramos joined the Times, serving as a reporter, editor, bureau chief and columnist. In 1984, Ramos was the co-leader of a team of Mexican American reporters and photographers who won the Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for Meritorious Public Service for a series about Latinos in Southern California. The team made history – it was the first Pulitzer for Chicano journalists.

In 1992, Ramos won another Pulitzer for team coverage of the riots that broke out in Los Angeles after the verdicts were announced in the Rodney King case. Ramos was also on the team that won a 1994 Pulitzer Prize for on-the-spot reporting about the Northridge earthquake.

Bringing his expertise to the classroom, Ramos taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Journalism for nearly 15 years. USC honored Ramos with a “Teaching Without Boundaries” Award. In 2006, Latino Today, a bilingual newspaper based in Santa Maria, Calif., named Ramos one of the 50 most influential Latinos on California’s Central Coast.

Ramos, Alvear and Chacón will be NAHJ’s 17th, 18th and 19th Hall of Fame inductees. Other honorees include such pioneering journalists as Rubén Salazar, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and the news director of KMEX, who was killed while covering the Chicano Anti-Vietnam War Moratorium in East Los Angeles, and Ignacio E. Lozano, Sr., who founded La Opinión, the nation’s oldest Spanish-language daily newspaper.