Washington -- The National Association of Hispanic Journalists hosts its 15th Annual Scholarship Banquet Feb. 19 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City to benefit NAHJ's Rubén Salazar Scholarship Fund and Educational Programs.

MSNBC Anchor and Correspondent Natalie Morales will serve as the mistress of ceremonies. Carolyn Curiel, a member of The New York Times editorial board, will deliver the keynote address.

Curiel was an editor at The Washington Post and the The New York Times before being appointed U.S. ambassador to Belize by President Clinton. Prior to becoming an ambassador, Curiel was a speechwriter for President Clinton, the first person of color to hold such a position. Her journalism career has also included writing/producing for ABC News Nightline.

NAHJ's scholarship fund, founded in 1986, provides financial assistance to Hispanic students who are pursuing careers in journalism. NAHJ has awarded more than $700,000 to more than 600 students since the inception of the program. Money raised by the event also supports NAHJ's Educational Programs, which include four convention-based newsroom internship opportunities for college journalism students.

The banquet's reception begins at 6:30 p.m. followed by dinner at 7:30 p.m. and will feature special performances by Mariachi Bustamante and the Marcus Persiani Trio.

The scholarship fund is named in honor of journalist Rubén Salazar, who was killed in 1970 while covering the Chicano Anti-Vietnam War Moratorium in East Los Angeles. Salazar was a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and the news director for the Spanish-language television station KMEX at the time of his death.

For more information on the scholarship banquet, visit NAHJ's website at www.nahj.org, or contact Kevin Olivas, educational programs manager, at 202-662-7168.

NAHJ is the largest association for Hispanic journalists in the country with close to 2,000 members. Founded in 1984, the mission of NAHJ is to increase the number of Latino journalists working in the nation's newsrooms and to improve the media's coverage of the Latino community.