MIAMI — Latinos in the worlds of social media, entertainment, broadcasting and marketing were recognized at the second annual Tecla Awards on Thursday, one of the signature events of the annual Hispanicize conference.
Joanna Hausmann, the Latina comedian whose funny rants and commentary about her Jewish-Venezuelan background have made her a video favorite was the night's big winner, taking home two awards. Hausmann, who runs widely popular YouTube and Facebook pages, received the Comedian of the Year Award. She also snagged the Creator of the Year Award at the end of the night.
Hausmann also presented Adamari López, a Puerto Rican actress, with an award for being the Most Admired Latino Celebrity on Social Media. López has 1.18 million Twitter followers, and over 1.8 million people keep up with her Instagram.
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Comedian David Lopez took home an award, Best Latino Viner, for his viral videos on @davidlopezfilms. He also presented Annie Vazquez with the Best Fashion Creator award.
Voto Latino won the Best Social Good or Cause-Related Campaign. Motivational speaker Lizzie Velasquez presented COO of Voto Latino Jessica Reeves the award, and she took the opportunity to encourage the Tecla Awards attendees to vote.
"This year I really want to encourage everybody, not just to go out and vote themselves, but to take your friends, take your tios, your tias, your families," she said. "Take everybody to the polls because we might end up — we are non-partisan and I can't say it — but we might end up with a candidate that rhymes with 'dump.'"
Borja Perez, Senior Vice President of Digital and Social Media for NBC Universal Telemundo Enterprises, took the stage to present the first NBC Innovation Award to Pope Francis. Pope Francis was recognized for his work redefining religion on social media and digital platforms, as well as his work connecting technology and art with sports to promote social good.
