NHI opens nominations for 2025 Person of the Year and its other annual awards

As it did last year, the National Hispanic Institute is requesting nominations for a series of awards to be presented at the end of the year. 

NHI will bestow a Person of the Year award as it has every year since 2017, unveiled on NHIMagazine.com five minutes before midnight on New Year’s Eve. NHI is also bringing back a series of awards it revived last year, originally presented annually to coincide with its Celebración event. 

The NHI Person of the Year is given to an NHI alumnus or alumna who NHI annually exemplifies the organization’s core values and fundamentals, providing leadership rooted in an asset-based perspective and community equity building. The award was conceived to honor select NHI family members providing engaged and inspirational leadership, advancing the global Latino community. 

Last year’s winner, Sophia Lugo, is a standout CEO in the field of biotechnology, founding Radar Therapeutics to create precision-expressed mRNA-based therapeutics. Her selection underscores that NHI creates leaders who excel across a wide spectrum of fields. 

Past recipients of the award include: 

• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, awarded as she was in the midst of her historical campaign for U.S. Congress; Anita Fernandez, Co-Founder and Partner at OCI Group, a San Antonio consulting firm created by NHI alumni to support “social purpose businesses;”
• Nick Lopez, President & CEO at Latin American Educational Foundation and a longtime leader in education; and
• Carlos Paz, Jr., currently chief of staff for Rep. Jimmy Gomez, a member of California’s delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives, who recently honored NHI founder and president Ernesto Nieto with a proclamation read into the Congressional Record.

NHI is also adding High School Student of the Year to the list of awards it re-established last year, which will be announced in early 2026. Those include:

• College of the Year
• High School of the Year
• School District of the Year
• College Student of the Year – Community Equity Builder
• High School Counselor of the Year
• Citation of Merit

There’s also a new category, NHI Parent of the Year, for a parent who supports other NHI parents through fundraising, providing transportation, and/or serving as a program or regional liaison.

“It’s important for NHI, as an insitution, to honor those who make a difference in helping us create summer leadership program experiences for our students,” said Nicole Nieto, Executive Vice President. “Be it high school and college students who volunteer at programs, school districts and high school counselors who work with us to spread the word about NHI, or the colleges and universities that host our programs, many people and institutions play a role in making sure the programs remain dynamic and transformation for the future leaders who choose to attend.” 

To nominate a Person of the Year candidate and award winners, submit this Google Form by Friday, Dec. 19. Candidates will be reviewed by an NHI committee helping to determine award winners, and nominations will help NHI leadership learn more about those in the NHI family making meaningful contributions to its mission.