Publisher and Photographer Mary J. Andrade receives the Ohtli Award
Once a year, the Nation of Mexico bestows the prestigious OHTLI award upon one individual in the United States, who has demonstrated a consistent and outstanding effort in promoting cultural pride, self-improvement, and the well-being of Mexican compatriots. OHTLI is the Nahuatl word for "camino," which translates to "road" or "path," and infers a lifetime path of good works with little recognition.
On March 6, 1999, Mary Andrade, international photojournalist and publisher of La Oferta Review of San José, California received the specially-minted OHTLI medallion. The solid silver award, exquisitely carved with Aztec glyphs, was presented by the General Consul of Mexico in Los Angeles, Mr. Jose Angel Pescador and by the Director of Communications of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Relations and the Program for Mexican Communities Abroad, Lic. María Esther Schumacher at the gala dinner for XIV Annual National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP) Convention in Huntington Beach, California.
At the moment of delivering the OHTLI recognition, the General Cónsul of Mexico in Los Angeles remarked that: "we recognize and appreciate the value of the activities that persons like Mrs. Andrade do in favor and the well-being of our co-nationals wherever they are". Mary J. Andrade thanked the Government of Mexico for the honor that she received and mentioned that "in my journeys through Mexico I had encountered cordiality and hospitality. In my work I have tried to reflect my personal feelings by sharing them with our readers. My work and the one done by the members of NAHP, will take me and take them to our roots."
The General Consul of Mexico in Los Angeles, Mr. Jose Angel Pescador, presents the Ohtli Award to Publisher and Photographer Mary J. Andrade, during the National Association of Hispanic Publications gala dinner in Huntington Beach, CA on March 6, 1999.
Mary J. Andrade, was selected by the Mexican Tourism Board as 2005 winner of the Silver Lens Award for her Day of the Dead website in English and Spanish: www.dayofthedead.com and www.diademuertos.com. Mrs. Andrade was the only recipient in the United States to receive the Silver Lens award this year.
The award is given “to recognize those individuals whose articles, photographs, websites, short films and documentaries best capture the essence of Mexico’s tourist appeal.”
“We were very impressed with the quality of this year’s entries. After a difficult judging process, we felt the winners captured the essence of Mexico through their words and images,” said Magdalena Carral, recently appointed CEO of the Mexico Tourism Board. “We would like to express our gratitude to the countless number of writers who support our mission year after year, making Mexico one of the most visited countries in the world.
The Silver Lens Award was presented to Mrs. Andrade at an awards ceremony held at the Tourism Tianguis in Acapulco on March 29, 2006, by the President of Mexico Vicente Fox and Tourism Secretary Rodolfo Elizondo.
