On December 15, The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) Foundation hosted a ceremony in Quezon City celebrating this year’s winners of the TOYM Awards — an honor long dedicated to recognizing awardees who have made significant contributions to their respective fields.
This year’s awardees included Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach who was recognized for her dedication to raising awareness about HIV/AIDS in the Philippines. Conservation photographer Gab Mejia also received the award in the Arts and Culture category for his use of photography and multimedia arts to advocate for socio-environmental justice.
Since its establishment in 1959, the TOYM Awards has served as “an annual national recognition awarded to Filipinos between 18 and 40 years of age who have made significant contributions to their field or community,” according to the official website of Junior Chamber International Philippines Inc. (JCI) Philippines, the nonprofit group that organizes the award and its selection process, with the support of the TOYM Foundation and its partners.
For its first 25 years, the prestigious honor was exclusively for men, overlooking the accomplishments of Filipino women at the time. However, this changed in 1984, when the artist Pacita Abad became the first woman to receive the award. Former TOYM awardees include the late senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., Olympic weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, and actress Sharon Cuneta, among others.
The full list of 2024 TOYM award winners are as follows:
Jenica Dizon-Mountford, Humanitarian Service and Social Work
Zig Dulay, Arts and Culture
Billie Dumaliang, Environmental Leadership and Community Development
Roscinto Ian Lumbres, Forestry Agriculture and Other Applied Sciences
Venazir Martinez, Arts and Culture
Jose Gabriel Mejia, Arts and Culture
Pia Ranada, Journalism and Mass Communications
Dennis Umali, Veterinary Medicine
Brent Andrew Viray, Rural Medicine and Surgery
Pia Wurtzbach, Humanitarian Service and Social Work
