John Phillip Santos (born 1957) is an American freelance filmmaker, producer, journalist, and author. In 1979, he became the first Mexican-American Rhodes Scholar. [1] [2] [3]
Santos was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. [4] In 1997, Santos joined the Ford Foundation as an officer in the Media, Arts and Culture Program. [1] [2]
He lived in New York City for twenty years, returning to San Antonio in May 2005. [2]
His articles have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, San Antonio Express-News, and the New York Times. [2] As an executive producer, he has over forty broadcast documentaries on culture, religion, politics and spirituality for CBS News and PBS, some of which have been nominated for Emmys. [2] As a director he has been involved in program development for Thirteen/WNET in New York City. [2]
Santos was an Emmy nominee in 1988 for From the AIDS Experience: Part I, Our Spirits to Heal/ Part II, Our Humanity to Heal, and in 1985 for Exiles Who Never Leave Home. [5] He has an MA English Literature and Language from St. Catherine's College at Oxford University and a BA in Philosophy and Literature from the University of Notre Dame. [1] [5]
Between August 7 and August 18, 2006, Texas Public Radio (KSTX 89.1 FM) broadcast Santos reading from his family memoir Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation. [6]
He has been awarded the Academy of American Poets' Prize at Notre Dame, the Oxford Prize for fiction, [1] [4] and the Berlin Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin. [2] His family memoir, Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation was a finalist for the National Book Award. [1] [7] He was also a past member of the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. [8] [9]