SAN ANTONIO, TX – San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists (SAAHJ) is proud to announce that the first Texas Music Curator, Hector Saldaña, will be honored with the distinguished 2026 Henry Guerra Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Journalism at the annual scholarship and awards gala, to be held on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026, at The Ralston at the San Antonio Zoo.
Hector Saldaña is an award-winning music journalist and musician. In his tenure as the first Texas Music Curator at The Wittliff Collections, Saldaña has raised the profile of the music holdings through strategic acquisitions, impactful major exhibitions, relevant programming, and media appearances. He previously worked for the San Antonio Express-News, where he spent more than two decades as a music columnist and entertainment writer, earning national honors, such as the 2017 Best of the West Award for Arts and Entertainment Writing and awards from the Society for Features Journalism. He also contributed to outlets such as Texas Monthly, MTV, and KUT-FM.
SAAHJ members also voted to recognize KLRN with the Community Service Award for its contributions to “provide essential services through trusted educational resources, homegrown programming and public safety partnerships”. The public broadcasting station was defunded in 2025, and we believe that public media is as essential now as ever.
SAAHJ’s Scholarship and Awards Gala is the organization’s premier fundraising event, supporting the SAAHJ mission and providing scholarships for local students aspiring to careers in journalism or communications. The evening will feature a seated dinner, riveting program, and an award ceremony as we present $75,000 in scholarships to a dozen area journalism students.
Individual tickets will be available soon. Sponsorship packages start at $3,000. To become a sponsor, please visit SAHispanicJournalists.com/Gala or contact Avianca De La O at 210-689-3443 or Laura Garcia 210-837-5285 or email info@saahj.org.
