Ornelas Wins AAAA – O’Toole Multicultural Award.

Ornelas & Associates has been presented the 2001 O’Toole Multicultural Award by the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA). The agency has also announced that it will set aside the award proceeds, totaling $25,000, along with a $25,000 matching gift from the agency, to start a scholarship fund for Latino students pursuing a degree in advertising or marketing communications.

Clients of the agency have also been asked to contribute $25,000 each to build the fund. The scholarship will be named the Ornelas Advertising Scholarship, and the national scholarship fund will be open to qualified American citizens of Latino heritage who desire to study advertising or marketing communications at an accredited college or university in the United States.

“We are pleased to have been recognized for the quality of our work, and we are absolutely delighted to use the award as a springboard for launching a scholarship program for Latino marketing students,” said Ornelas. “I am hopeful that we will encourage more Latino students to pursue degrees in advertising and marketing communications, as the Latino market segment is becoming a larger and more powerful part of the U.S. economy and society.”
Currently, fewer than five percent of advertising and marketing communications majors at top U.S. colleges and universities are Latino. Ornelas & Associates is the first advertising and marketing communications agency to develop such a scholarship initiative for Latino students.

The fund will be administered by the Communities Foundation of Texas, which will select the scholarship winners on the basis of demonstrated academic ability and community involvement. The first scholarship winner(s) will be selected in late 2001 for the 2002-2003 school year.