A trailblazer in Latin American media is receiving yet another honor in what has been a career filled with them.
The MCCJ will honor CBS This Morning contributor María Elena Salinas today with the Hank Meyer National Headliner Award.
The Hank Meyer Award is presented to journalists who mirror MCCJ’s mission of creating an inclusive community.
“We want to recognize Salinas’ passion for immigration and for objectively and accurately depicting the challenges that Latino immigrants face in our country,” said Nestor Rodriguez, executive director of the Miami-based journalism organization.
Salinas joined CBS News in a contributor role back in July, after building an legendary 36-year career at Univision News (1981-2017).
In addition to co-anchoring Noticiero Univision with Jorge Ramos, Salinas had been co-host of the weekend news magazine Aquí y Ahora.
In 2012, Salinas became the first Latina to receive an Emmy for Lifetime Achievement from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 2014, she won a Peabody Award and a Walter Cronkite Award for her special about the mass migration of children from Central America to the U.S. In 2017, she was inducted into the NAB Hall of Fame.
Past MCCJ honorees include icons of journalism, Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, Barbara Walters and Tom Brokaw. Other winners include as well as ABC’s What Would You Do? John Quiñones, NPR’s Michelle Martin, MSNBC’s Joy Ann Reid, NBC Meet the Press moderator (and Miami native) Chuck Todd, New York Times op-ed columnist, Charles M. Blow and NPR’s 1A host Joshua Johnson.
MCCJ was founded in 1935 as the Miami branch of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Since 2011, following the demise of the national organization, the organization formerly changed its name to MCCJ, “in recognition of our embrace of people of faiths and secular backgrounds.”