Media Release
Bangkok, 12 May 2022
APCOM together with three regional community partners, APN+, APTN, and ILGA Asia are extremely proud and excited to announce that the nominations for the 2022 HERO Awards are now open! Please nominate and honour those active in the LGBTQI and HIV field throughout the Asia Pacific region.
Standing for HIV, Equality and Rights, the HERO Awards is an annual gala event set in Bangkok. The award evening shines a light to the region’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI) communities, as well as those who made significant contributions to the HIV response in Asia and the Pacific region.
Community members and supporters throughout the APAC region are invited to nominate individuals and organisations across 10 categories: Business Ally, Community Ally, Community Hero, Community Organisation, COVID-19 Hero, Health & Wellbeing, HIV Hero, Social Justice, Transgender Hero and Young Achiever.
“The HERO Awards honor those who have demonstrated outstanding achievements and enthusiastically display immense dedication to the community. HERO Awards is one of the motivational boosters for the leaders who are commitmented and contribute towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals,”
commented Thawdar Htun from Myanmar Positive Group, the national network of people living with HIV in Myanmar. He is also on the Steering Committee of APN+ which, founded in 1994, leads the regional response for people living with HIV in collaboration with its member networks.
“We celebrate the heroes who have given their all to the movement. This award is in its way a medal of honour for local champions who have worked tirelessly to nurture the trans community in their country. We hope this year’s award can foster the post-COVID 19 movement rebuilding and form greater hope and solidarity,”
said Joe Wong, Executive Director of APTN, the regional trans-led organisation that supports and advocates for the rights of trans and gender diverse people in Asia and the Pacific.
“ILGA Asia is proud to support the 2022 HERO Awards again this year. The marginalisation and tides of intolerance against LGBTIQ+ communities in the region continue to rise. Yet we always find communities and individuals who come together to resist and rebuild spaces and movements to advance rights and social justice. The HERO Awards provide much-needed recognition for these important efforts as even heroes need all the support they can get,”
noted Henry Koh, Executive Director of ILGA Asia. ILGA Asia’s vision is a world where Asia is a safe place for all, where all can live in freedom and equality, be properly informed on the nature of sexual orientation and gender identity & expression and sex characteristic (SOGIESC) rights, have access to justice, and diversity is respected.
Despite the ongoing pandemic with new variants, the annual HERO Awards demonstrates that the community wants visibility, celebration and wants to be inspired by the extraordinary work of everyday heroes especially during such difficult times.
Isikeli Valuavo, the recipient of the Community Ally Award in 2021 from Fiji in the Pacific, an indigenous genderqueer human rights activist and defender who uses the pronouns Xe/Hir commented,
“LGBTQI people are strong resilient members of the community who basically have faced much worse than this pandemic and we have always triumphed over these barriers and obstacles. Let us learn from this pandemic to strengthen our resolve and recommit ourselves to other key issues of our time that also need immediate attention and urgent action like climate change!”
Start Nominating!
Nominations are open now and close on 31 July.
The nomination process is FREE and only takes a few minutes.
For more info, please visit:
Interested in Sponsorship?
Please contact us at [email protected] / [email protected]
if you are interested in sponsoring the event.
Why is the HERO Awards important?
Listen to Ambassadors to Thailand on why their Embassies support this unique event – one of a kind in Asia and the Pacific region.
Check out HERO Awards Recipients from last year.
About our community partners:
APN+
APN+ is the network of people living with HIV in the Asia Pacific region. It was established in 1994 with members in 30 countries in response to the need for a collective voice for people living with HIV in the region, including to connect positive networks throughout the region, to support regional responses to widespread stigma and discrimination and better access to treatment and care.
Contacts
75/12 Ocean Tower II, 15th Floor. Soi Sukhumvit 19, Klong Toey Nua, Wattana, Bangkok, Thailand 10110
- Email: [email protected]
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/apn.plus
- Website: http://www.apnplus.org
APTN
APTN is a trans-led organisation that supports and advocates for the rights of trans and gender diverse people in Asia and the Pacific. Our mission is to enable trans and gender diverse people in the Asia Pacific region to organise and advocate across many areas that affect our lives. These include legal gender recognition, health, societal attitudes, stigma and violence, and our right to freedom of movement, education and social protection.
Contacts:
- Instagram: @WeAreAPTN
- Twitter: @WeAreAPTN
- Facebook: facebook.com/WeAreAPTN
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/weareaptn
- Website: weareaptn.org
ILGA Asia
ILGA Asia is the Asian Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, representing more than 100 member organisations in East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and West Asia. Our vision is a world where Asia is a safe place for all, where all can live in freedom and equality, be properly informed on the nature of sexual orientation and gender identity & expression and sex characteristic (SOGIESC) rights, have access to justice, and diversity is respected.
Contacts:
Spring Tower, Floor 11, Suite 132, Phayathai Road, Phayathai, Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
