Carolina Herrera, Julio Torres and Los Ángeles Azules receive this year’s prestigious awards from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC rolled out its red carpet on Thursday to welcome this year’s recipients of the prestigious Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHA) Awards. The event is one of the most important events for the Latino community, celebrating Hispanic tradition and heritage and awarding Latinos who have excelled in various fields of art, culture and business.

Venezuelan designer Carolina Herrera will receive the fashion award at the 37th annual edition of the awards. “The Hispanic Heritage Foundation is proud to honor the transcendence of Carolina Herrera, a true global icon who has represented our community with vision, determination and grace throughout her career,” said Antonio Tejerino, president of the HHA, when announcing the nominations. For her part, the designer expressed her gratitude for the honor of receiving “an award that recognizes the enormous contributions and heritage of Latinos in the United States.”

Also receiving awards will be Salvadoran writer, director and comedian Julio Torres, famous as the scriptwriter of the Saturday Night Live show and creator of the HBO comedy Los Spookies, in the Vision category; businesswoman Rea Ann Silva, founder and CEO of Beautyblender, as entrepreneur; NBA star Carmelo Anthony, in the Sports category; and the legendary cumbia band Los Ángeles Azules, recognized with the Billboard and Latin Grammy awards, in the Arts category. With more than 17 million monthly listeners, the Mexican band has positioned itself as one of the 500 most listened to artists on Spotify worldwide and has taken its music across the continent. Before“We are very grateful to the Hispanic Heritage Awards for this great recognition of our long artistic career. We also want to thank all of our fans and people who have supported us all this time, because it is thanks to them and those who enjoy and dance to our songs that we will continue to build this great career,” said Elías Mejía Avante, a member of the group.

For the first time, there will also be a posthumous tribute to Baseball Hall of Famer and philanthropist Roberto Clemente.

“We are thrilled to honor our 2024 Hispanic Heritage Honorees and our entire Latino community through these outstanding artists and leaders who will take to our stage,” said Antonio Tijerino, HHF President and CEO. “We look forward to sharing our collective cultural pride, accomplishments and vision at the Kennedy Center and on PBS with all of America and beyond.”

This year, actress Annie González will be in charge of presenting the gala, which will feature performances by Los Ángeles Azules, Morat, Nathy Peluso, Cimafunk and Ximena Sariñana.

HFF is a non-profit organization created by the White House in 1988 to commemorate the establishment of Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States, which precedes the awards ceremony, and is supported by 40 Latino institutions in the country.

The HHF event is one of the most important among the Latino community in the United States and this year it is expected to feature personalities such as Emmy-winning actor and producer John Leguizamo, producer Emilio Estefan Jr., actor Danny Ramírez, chef Pati Jinich, actress Nava Mau and Lisa Vidal, among others, according to the organizers.

Hispanic Heritage Month

The awards ceremony will be broadcast on September 27 on PBS and will be available on the web. PBS.org during Hispanic Heritage Month, which is celebrated between September 15 and October 15. The Hispanic Heritage Month was created in recognition of the achievements and contributions of Hispanic American leaders who have inspired others to achieve success. This celebration began in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Weekduring the administration of President Lyndon Johnson, and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to a 30-day period.

The awards gala kicks off HHF’s annual mission, which its leaders say focuses on education, workforce, social impact and culture through leadership. Last year’s awards included Mexican band Cafe Tacuba, singer-songwriter and actor Omar Apollo and NBC Universal Group Chairman Cesar Conde.