Al Día Celebrates 1st Anniversary.

Al Día celebrated one year of service with a special event at the Latino Cultural Center in Dallas on September 29th. “We thank the Dallas-Ft. Worth community for allowing us to be part of their daily lives this past year”, said Gilbert Bailón, publisher and editor of Al Día. “Thanks to the largest and best news staff for a Spanish-language daily in the Southwest, Al Día is the most local, most complete, and most read Spanish-language newspaper.”

Al Dia’s commitment to journalistic excellence has already been recognized at a national level, with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) recognizing Gilbert Bailón, publisher and editor of Al Día, with the prestigious 2004 Leadership Award, and staff photographer Sharón Steinmann won first place in the News Photo category for her photo, ‘Paletero’s Widow.’

In addition, on October 4, AlDiaTx.com, the Web site associated with the newspaper will receive the 2004 Radio-Television News Directors Association and Foundation (RTNDA) Edward R. Murrow award for best non-broadcast website in the country. “Less than one year since the launch of AlDiaTx.com, it is an honor to be in the company of washingtonpost.com, as the inaugural recipients for best non-broadcast affiliated Web sites”, said Gilbert Bailón, editor and Publisher of Al Día.

Earlier in the year, the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors gave honorable mention for features to Ernesto Londoño’s ‘Condena Inesperada’, a story on HIV growing among Latino women and also honorable mention for online newspapers to AlDiaTx.com.

Most recently Al Día was honored three times at the Press Club of Dallas 46th annual Katie awards. Isabel Rojas won for her story ‘Falsas Ilusiones’ which discussed fraudulent practices among notary republics, Angel Gonzalez won for ‘De rebeldes a religiosos’, which narrates a dramatic shift from rebel to religious for an ex-Brown Beret, and Gabriel Cabarrouy won for his story ‘Con ritmo latino’, about San Antonio Spurs player Emanuel Ginóbili, who is charting the way for a new generation of NBA players. In addition, Fernando Hernandez was a finalist for his illustration, which accompanied ‘El peligro de usar tacones’, a feature story on the danger of high heels.