NAB 2017: Prominent Latinas America Ferrera, Maria Elena Salinas Honored by NAB

Full Coverage of NAB 2017

Actress and activist America Ferrera and Univision anchor and journalist María Elena Salinas each received honors at the NAB Television Luncheon in Las Vegas on Monday.

Ferrera received the NAB Television Chairman’s Award, while Salinas was inducted into the NAB Hall of Fame. Ferrera was honored for her “significant breakthrough in television,” which includes being the first Latina actress to win the Golden Globe, SAG and Primetime Emmy Award for lead actress for her starring role in Ugly Betty on ABC.

Since then, Ferrera has gone on to star in, produce and direct one episode of NBC’s Superstore, which has been renewed for a third season.

She also contributed to Epix’s five-part documentary America Divided, which explores inequality in education, housing, healthcare, labor and criminal justice. She appeared in the second season of Showtime’s The Years of Living Dangeously, and she’s an executive producer of Refinery 29’s multimedia experience Behind the Headlines.

She also spoke at the Democratic National Convention last summer and at the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., in January.

“America Ferrera is an esteemed and versatile actress who not only entertains, but brings attention to a variety of important national and global issues,” said NAB Executive VP of Television Marcellus Alexander in a statement. “She is the embodiment of what this award represents.”

Salinas has been co-anchor of Noticiero Univision with Jorge Ramos since 1987. She began her career in 1981 as a reporter, anchor and public affairs host at Univision’s KMEX Los Angeles.

In 2015, Salinas received a Peabody Award, Walter Cronkite Award, an Emmy and Gracie for her documentary special Entre el abandono y el rechazo (Between Abandonment and Rejection), a prime-time report on the exodus of Central American children to the United States. In 2016, she was the recipient of the Mickey Leland Humanitarian award, and in 2012, she became the first Latina to receive an Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Beyond journalism, Salinas has been the spokeswoman for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials for nearly two decades. For that work, she’s been recognized by the National Organization for Women, Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, among others. Salinas was also honored with the Ruben Salazar Award for Communications from the National Council of La Raza.

“María Elena Salinas is an outstanding example of the profound effect broadcast television can have on the audiences it serves,” said Alexander. “María has a deep connection to the needs of the Latino community, and she represents their interests on and off the screen.”

Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.