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Elaine Ayala
Minority Affairs Reporter, Latino Life Blogger, Metro Columnist | San Antonio Express-News
Maria Elena Martinez / For the Express-News
Elaine Ayala is a Metro columnist for the San Antonio Express-News. A newspaper journalist for almost 40 years, she has held a variety of journalism jobs, including news reporter, features editor, blogger and editorial page editor. She has worked for six metropolitan dailies — the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, the Arizona Daily Star, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, the Austin American-Statesman, El Paso Times and the Express-News, where she has worked since 1996.
Her Metro column appears on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays on Page 2 of the Express-News. She covers San Antonio and Bexar County with special focus on communities of color, demographic change, Latino politics, migration, education and arts and culture.
The San Antonio native graduated from Memorial High School on the city's West Side and the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in English. She is also a graduate of the Maynard Institute's Editing Program, in which she also taught.
She has been involved in several journalism organizations throughout her career, most focused on increasing the number of minorities and women in U.S. newsrooms and fundraising for scholarships for students pursuing careers in the news media
She's past president of the San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists (SAAHJ), the Austin Area Association of Hispanic Journalists and the El Paso Association of Hispanic Journalists. She has served on the board of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and has been a member of two other journalism groups, formerly known as the National Conference of Editorial Writers and American Association of Sunday and Features Editors.
Ayala is the recipient of several awards, including the Henry Guerra Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Journalism, awarded by SAAHJ; the Phillip True Award for Reporter of the Year, given by her peers at the Express-News; the inaugural Mission Heritage Award by the American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions; the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce's inaugural Community Voice Award; a role-model award from the Martinez Street Women's Center; the IMAGE of San Antonio Award given to women leaders and mentors; and the Governor's Yellow Rose of Texas Award.
She has been inducted into the Edgewood Independent School District's Hall of Fame, the San Antonio Women's Hall of Fame and, most recently, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists' Hall of Fame.
Winner, 2009, Philip True Award for Reporter of the Year, given by her peers at the Express-News
Honored as a role model , 2009, Martinez Street Women's Center
IMAGE of San Antonio Award
Governor's Yellow Rose of Texas Award
Inducted, 2005, Edgewood Independent School District's Hall of Fame
Instructor, Community Leadership Institute's media workshop
Past president, San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists
Past presdient, Austin Area Association of Hispanic Journalists
Past president, El Paso Association of Hispanic Journalists
Past board member, National Association of Hispanic Journalists
Past board member, American Association of Sunday & Feature Editors
Ayala: Mexican American civil rights institute finds a home at OLLU
Ayala: Almost a century after it chose the Texas Ranger as its mascot, SAC has another chance to evolve
Ayala: San Antonio overcompensates for the sins of others with its MLK events
Ayala: If Tap Pilam is building a nation, it's just getting started
Ayala: UTSA grappling with how to be truly Hispanic-serving
Ayala: On the looming war against Iran, San Antonians worry about an illegal war
Julián Castro made San Antonio proud
'My last Christmas' — San Antonio poet-turned-pastor faces death with grace
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