As reported by the Associated Press, the UNAM, which is a nearly 100-year-old Mexican university, was awarded Spain’s Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities in recognition of its role in providing Latin America with outstanding intellectuals and scientists.
The National Autonomous University of Mexico, which has nearly 300,000 students and more than 34,000 professors and researchers, had received more than 1,500 letters of support for the award, including ones from world famous authors Carlos Fuentes and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the award foundation said.
The university, founded in 1910, “has become …

LATIN AMERICAN HERALD TRIBUNE – Mexico’s Jose Emilio Pacheco was announced Thursday as the winner of the Queen Sofia Poetry Prize, Spain’s most prestigious literary award in that genre.
The prize, which is accompanied by a 42,100-euro ($56,000) cash award, recognizes a living author’s complete body of work and contribution to the shared cultural heritage of the Ibero-American community.
The 69-year-old Pacheco’s poetry oeuvre is universal in scope and has been included since the 1950s in the main Latin American poetry anthologies.
The president of the jury, Spanish Crown Heritage Chairman Yago Pico …

The West Virginia District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration has singled out a Charleston salsa maker for honors.
Maria Magdalena “Maggie” De La Cruz Cook-Garcia has been named the West Virginia Small Business Administration’s “2009 Young Entrepreneur of the Year.”
Cook-Garcia is the owner and operator of Maggie’s Salsa, a salsa that is unusual because it is never cooked. Cook-Garcia learned how to make the salsa when she was growing up in Mexico, helping prepare meals for her 68 siblings, most of whom were adopted by her parents, who run …