North Carolina Humanities Council’s Banu Valladares has been selected to receive the prestigious 2016 Arts & Culture Latino Diamante Award for making significant contributions to the Hispanic community in North Carolina.

The award highlights her efforts in visual, literary, cultural or performing arts, media or communications which promotes artists or art programs in the Latino district.

“I’m incredibly grateful for this high honor,” said Banu Valladares, North Carolina Humanities Council’s Program and Grants Administrator. “Every person, no matter their ethnicity, has a story to tell. It’s a privilege to celebrate North Carolina’s many cultures and heritage and to foster the power of the arts and the humanities to transform the way we see each other and our communities.”

Diamante Inc. initiated the statewide Latino Diamante Awards to recognize outstanding achievements and to honor individuals and organizations for making significant contributions to the Latino/Hispanic population of North Carolina. Additional awards are presented in business, community involvement, education, health and science, Latino advocacy and youth accomplishment, as well as the Lizette Cruz Watko Award.

Valladares will be given the award at a ceremony at Cary Arts Center on October 29.

For more information about the North Carolina Humanities Council, visit nchumanities.org.

For more information about Diamante Inc., visit diamanteinc.org.