Washington -- The National Association of Hispanic Journalists will honor the legacy of Los Angeles Times editor and NAHJ member Frank del Olmo, who died last week, by naming a permanent new award in his honor.

The NAHJ board of directors unanimously approved the creation of the Frank del Olmo Print Journalist of the Year Award, during its winter meeting in New York City last weekend. The award will be given out this September in Washington, D.C., during Hispanic Heritage Month as part of NAHJ's revamped Noche de Triunfos Journalism Awards Gala.

"Frank was a giant in the field of journalism, a trailblazer among Latinos and a founding member of NAHJ," said Juan Gonzalez, NAHJ president. "He was a mentor and role model to scores of young people, and a tireless advocate for the fair and accurate portrayal of Hispanics by the news media. By establishing this award in his name, we hope to keep his legacy at the forefront of NAHJ's work."

In other major actions, the NAHJ board of directors:

1) Approved preliminary rules and regulations for establishing for the first time local chapters of the association both among professional members and journalism students;

2) Commissioned a survey on the status of the Spanish-language media in the United States, with the aim of releasing the preliminary results at the UNITY 2004 Convention in August in Washington, D.C.

"The creation of chapters will allow our association to grow more rapidly and to provide better service to members at the local level," said NAHJ executive director Iván Román. "We encourage NAHJ members who wish to create such chapters to contact our national office for information on the procedures they need to follow."

Founded in 1984, NAHJ's mission is to increase the percentage of Latinos working in our nation's newsrooms and to improve news coverage of the country's Latino community.