New Editor for El Pregonero

September 23, 2005

Rafael Roncal, 48, has been named editor of El Pregonero newspaper, the region’s oldest Spanish-language newspaper, effective immediately. He succeeds Oscar J. Reyes, who retired in June 2005 after nearly 20 years with the paper.

Roncal has 30 years of experience in Spanish-language community journalism, including 17 years with El Pregonero. He started there as a general assignment reporter in 1988, eventually becoming assistant editor. Previously, he worked as the Washington correspondent for El Nacional of Lima, Peru. He also was a reporter for El Comercio and La Prensa newspapers, also in Lima.

“The mission of El Pregonero has always been to empower the community,” Roncal said. “My commitment is to be faithful to this mission, to encourage people of all ages, especially young people, to participate fully in the well-being of our society. Our pages will reflect a productive debate of the most important issues that affect us.”

During his 17 years with El Pregonero, Roncal earned more than 50 awards for editorial excellence from the Catholic Press Association and the National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP). He assumed a lead role in the newspaper’s October 2004 redesign, for which El Pregonero earned a top design award from the NAHP.

He was named editor by Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington. The newspaper, founded in 1977 and owned by the Archdiocese of Washington, is published weekly. El Pregonero is the oldest Spanish-language newspaper in the Washington, DC market and was named the nation’s top Spanish-language weekly for the fifth time in six year at this year’s Catholic Press Association convention in Orlando, FL. El Pregonero also is a four-time winner of a similar award from the NAHP.

Contact:
Susan Gibbs
Director of Communications
301-853-4515
gibbss@adw.org

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