Ivan Lajara

Ivan Lajara joined the Daily Freeman in Kingston in January of 2001 as a copy editor for the News department. In 2004, he started working for the Life department and became editor of the section soon thereafter.
He was named Editor of the Year in January 2006 by the Suburban Newspapers Association of America and subsequently won two awards by the same organization for 2008 in the Best Headline and Best Arts and Entertainment Criticism/Commentary categories.
He had a role in Las Noticias, the Freeman's Spanish weekly newspaper.
He is the editor of Preview, the Freeman's weekly entertainment magazine, which won an honorable mention by the SNA in 2009 for best entertainment magazine. And he edits special sections like Your Wedding, Home and Garden and Health and Fitness.
His blog won second place in 2010 and first place in 2011 in the New York Associated Press writing contest. And he won first place in the 2011 and 2012 AP contests for online content, as well as a third place for Column Writing in 2011.
He was chosen as one of the 25 under 35 journalists in the country by Editor & Publisher in 2011. He was promoted to engagement editor for the east region of Digital First Media in February 2012. The Peruvian native has lived in the Hudson Valley since 1996. Today, he lives in Kingston.