María Esperanza Rodríguez Escario (born 18 December 1959) is a Spanish journalist and presenter on Televisión Española (TVE). In the mid-1980s she was one of the pioneers in Spanish women's sports journalism. Since then she has covered seven

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and three World Cups. She is known for her work to increase the visibility of women's sports.

Career

With a degree in journalism from the Complutense University of Madrid, María Escario began her career at a production company making educational videos for schools. In 1985, she joined TVE, hired by

Pedro Erquicia Pedro Erquicia López de Montenegro (24 March 1943 – 20 April 2018) was a Spanish journalist and news anchor. He joined Televisión Española in July 1965 where he developed most of his television career. The first television program that he ...

, and on this network she presented all editions of '' Telediario'', the program ''48 horas'' with , and the news show ' with Pedro Erquicia. She has presented ' and ' (Sunday sports). For 21 uninterrupted years, until 2014, she worked on the different editions of ''Telediario''. Since 1989, she has been a pioneer in Spanish sports journalism, along with Olga Viza and Elena Sánchez. When she got to the sports office – she explained in one of her interviews – she started by covering rhythmic gymnastics since "star" sports were taken over by men. Since September 2014, Escario has been in charge of making reports related to the world of sports on "Enfoque", a micro segment included in the second edition of La 1's ''Telediario'' (TD2), which deals with various topics in depth. In February 2012 she was admitted to the hospital as the result of a

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. This kept her off the air for several months until she returned in May. In 2013, she received the

Ondas Award The Premios Ondas (Spanish language, Spanish: literally "wave awards", also known in English as the Ondas Awards or simply The Ondas) have been given since 1954 by Radio Barcelona, a subsidiary of Cadena SER, in recognition of professionals in t ...

for best presenter. In 2014 she was awarded the

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Lady Award for Successful Women for being one of the first women to specialize in sportscasting, to value the work of a journalist who has served to open the way for other professionals in a traditionally masculine world, and for promoting and making visible women's sports and equality between men and women. From 2005 to 2015 she was a jury member of the

Princess of Asturias Awards The Princess of Asturias Awards ( es, Premios Princesa de Asturias, links=no, ast, Premios Princesa d'Asturies, links=no), formerly the Prince of Asturias Awards from 1981 to 2014 ( es, Premios Príncipe de Asturias, links=no), are a series of a ...

for Sports.

Women and sports

In her professional career Escario has especially stood out in the defense of the visibility and equality of women's sports. In January 2009, she participated in the presentation of the . In 2014, during the delivery of the 2nd TENA Lady Award, she stated: In 2017, Escario received the Lilí Álvarez Award for "her work for the visibility of women's sports" in Spain in the first edition of these awards organized by the and the Sports Council to highlight the journalistic works that have best contributed to the defense of equality in sport. Specifically, she was awarded in the audiovisual category for the report "Rugby: el rugido de las leonas", broadcast on the TVE segment "Enfoque", about the women's national rugby team.

Awards and recognitions

* 2002: nominated for the as Best Communicator of News Programs for her work on '' Telediario'' * 2011: Silver Medal for Sports Merit from the Sports Council * 2013:

for best presenter * 2014: Prize in memory of from the Spanish Olympic Committee * 2014:

Lady Award * 2015: Joan Ramón Mainat Award of the FesTVal de Televisión * 2017: We Are All Students Award from the Movistar Student Club * 2017: Award in the category of "Communication committed to women" * 2017: First Lilí Álvarez Award from the Women's Institute and the Sports Council

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Escario, Maria 1959 births Complutense University of Madrid alumni Living people Mass media people from Madrid Spanish sports broadcasters Spanish television presenters Spanish women's rights activists Women sports journalists Spanish women journalists Spanish women television presenters