Alyssa Valdez, Bailey May named 2017 Pinoys of the Year; Maine Mendoza big winner at #VoicePointsSocialMediaAwards2017

This year, 2017, has been another rollercoaster year for the social media world. Every few days, there’s a new trend, hashtag, LSS, and a new headline maker.

VoicePoints Social Media Awards honor the best of social media by recognizing the influencers, brands and organizations on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and more.

The last votes for the third VoicePoints Social Media Awards since 2012 came in as revelry ushered in the new year. We asked netizens to choose from a list of finalists that was also crowdsourced.

VoicePoints readers were able to vote on three platforms:

1. via our main voting pages.

2. via Facebook, by liking, reacting and sharing the photo on our Facebook page. Every like and every share were counted separately.

3. on Twitter, where favorites, replies and retweets were counted separately as well.

So, here are the winners you picked:

Pinoy of the Year is an annual search of VoicePoints that features and profiles a person, group, idea or object that “for better or for worse, …has done the most to influence the events of the year.”

The tradition of selecting a Pinoy of the Year began in 2011 with VoicePoints editors contemplating newsworthy stories possible during a slow news week.

Past winners are Nora Aunor (Pinoy of the Year 2012), Brillante Mendoza (Pinoy Director of the Year 2012), Nonito Donaire, Jr. (Pinoy Fighter of the Year 2012), Kevin Balot (Pinoy Gender Equality Ambassador of the Year 2012), and Atom Araullo (Pinoy of the Year 2013).

Bailey May was named Pinoy of the Year 2017 for his efforts to give a valuable entertainment and taking the Philippine flag to the international stage. The former ‘Pinoy Big Brother’ housemate is part of the global pop group ‘Now United’, which was formed by Simon Fuller who famously created the reality TV phenomenon ‘American Idol’ and managed the career of the Spice Girls.

Surprisingly, VoicePoints received 9,040 votes for Alyssa Valdez as the Pinoy Sports Icon of the Year 2017 making the Editorial Board to decide to give two Pinoy of the Year awards this year to individual Filipino man and woman.

From her celebrated career as a lethal spiker with the Ateneo de Manila Lady Eagles, Valdez has truly broken through several boundaries to become one of the most recognizable sports personalities in the Philippines. The Pinay of the Year played for the Philippines women’s national volleyball team at both the youth and senior levels. Valdez led the eight placer Youth 16-Under Girls’ Philippines National Volleyball Team in the 2008 Asian Youth Championship. She was appointed the team captain of the Philippine team for the 2015 Asian U23 Championship. Valdez was a member of the Philippine National team that finished in third place in the 2014 FIVB Southeast Asian Zone Qualifier held in Quang Tri, Vietnam. In the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, she was assigned to carry the Philippine flag on the traditional parade of nations held in Singapore. She is also set to extend hear reach to an international audience, as she was tapped to play as a reinforcement for Chinese-Taipei club Attack Line.

VoicePoints does not only recognize individual but also organizations that make a big impact to the society. Pinoy Organization of the Year 2017 is the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA). More than half of the percentage of combined votes were given to the organization.

PETA is a theatrical association of artists and educators. It is the UNESCO-International Theater Institute Center in the Philippines. It was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2017.

As a commitment, VoicePoints will help PETA in its advocacy next year and you can be part of this by donating. Click the button below for details.

VoicePoints readers also supported the advocacy of other organizations – Support and Empower Abused Deaf Children, Inc. for PWD (19.42%) and Virlanie Foundation, Inc. for volunteerism (12.62%).

Maine Mendoza was named Pinoy Social Media Icon of the Year 2017 by the netizens as she garnered 10,405 votes representing 90.07% of the total votes from the category. Mendoza was not initially part of the list of nominees for the category. Before the announcement of finalists, VoicePoints released new guidelines for the Social Media Awards which include a right of the netizens to nominate an individual or organization in each category until 15 December 2017. The nomination of Mendoza was approved by the Editorial Board.Mendoza currently has 4.63 million followers on Twitter and almost 3.00 million on Instagram.Undoubtedly, Mendoza is a social media icon of her generation as she won big in this year’s edition of Social Media Awards. She was also named Most Beautiful Pinay of the Year 2017 with 14,263 votes or 44.58%, followed by Kisses Delavin with 8,564 or 26.77% and Julie Anne San Jose with 4,119 or 12.87%.

Aside from Mendoza, half of the phenomenal loveteam Aldub, Alden Richards was named Hottest Pinoy of the Year 2017. During the 29th PMPC Star Awards for Television in 2015, Richards won his first Best Actor award for his portrayal of José Rizal in ‘Ilustrado’. As a recording artist, Richards released two albums, a self-titled album in 2013 under Universal Records and ‘Wish I May’ in 2015 under GMA Records. His eponymous album reached Platinum status while ‘Wish I May’ reached Diamond status.

Richards garnered a total of 6,526 votes or 74.97% followed by Tony Labrusca (9.91%) and Daniel Padilla (7.13%).

VoicePoints continues to award special citations to individuals who significantly change the landscape of the culture, heritage and entertainment of the Philippine industry. Past winners with special citations are Jesse Robredo (VoicePoints Leadership Excellence Award 2012) and Dolphy Quizon (VoicePoints Alagad ng Sining Awards 2017).

This year, VoicePoints awards Newcomer Artists of the Year to young Filipino man and woman who coincidentally placed second in Hottest Pinoy of the Year and Most Beautiful Pinay awards, respectively.

Pinoy Newcomer Artist of the Year Labrusca first gained his popularity via a McDonald’s Philippines TV ad in 2016, ‘Tuloy Pa Rin’. Before that, he he joined the Filipino reality search ‘Pinoy Boyband Superstar’ in 2016. He made rounds on the internet as he took the role of Jake, a best friend to Kathryn Bernardo’s role in La Luna Sangre.

Pinay Newcomer Artist of the Year Delavin entered Pinoy Big Brother house in June 2016 as a teen housemate of the seventh regular season where she won Second Big Placer.

Amidst drug war and fight for corruption headlines, most Filipinos widely supported Duterte and his aggressive narcotics crackdown in the belief that his policies were making the country safer as 69.57% of voters for Pinoy Leader of the Year 2017 category showed support to the Philippine President. Sixteen per cent of votes were collected by the Vice President of the Philippines Leni Robredo, while 7.45% for business tycoon Henry Sy. Politician and business tycoon Manuel Villar, who garnered 6.21%, placed fourth.

You may have read earlier – yes, Valdez is the Pinoy Sports Icon of the Year 2017.

Pinoy Performer of the Year 2017 was a battle between Jake Zyrus and Moira dela Torre. Dela Torre, who received 1,043 votes oe 20.22%, placed second to Zyrus, who garnered 2,309 votes or 44.76%.

Before revealing his transgender identity in June, Zyrus was the pride of the nation, a diminutive girl belting out ballads on the US television series, ‘Glee,’ and singing with Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli. But he said Charice Pempengco’s success never felt right, prompting him to make a rare, courageous move in the conservative society by announcing he was a man. The single ‘Pyramid’, featuring singer Iyaz, is Zyrus’s most successful single to date, charting within the Top 40 in a number of countries after its debut live performance on ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’.

Almost garnering eighty per cent of votes, Pinoy Group Performer of the Year 2017 BoybandPH is yet to unfold its success stories. The group is composed of Ford Valencia, Joao Constancia, Niel Murillo, Russell Reyes, and Tristan Ramirez. The group was formed on 11 December 2016, after winning the first season of ABS-CBN’s reality show ‘Pinoy Boyband Superstar’, a franchise of Simon Cowell’s Latin American singing competition ‘La Banda’. After winning the competition, the group released their first single on 1 January 2017 entitled ‘Unli’. It was followed by their second single, which is a cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘Somebody’ on 14 February. The group released its debut, self-titled album on 4 February 2017 under Star Music. On 2 April 2017, they were awarded with the Gold Record Award, with their album reaching over 7,500 copies sold in less than two months.

Rejoice, AlDub Nation! You did it. Pinoy Pair of the Year 2017 AlDub garnered 7,278 votes or 58.43% followed by KathNiel with 2,991 votes or 23.98% and BaiLona with 1,055 votes or 8.46%.

The BBC described AlDub as a “phenomenal television and social media success in the Philippines”. AlDub movie will be pushed through next year.

A special citation is awarded to Joshlia, represented by Joshua Garcia and Julia Barretto, for their astounding performance in their films ‘Love You to the Stars and Back’ and ‘Unexpectedly Yours’. Joshlia is Breakthrough Pinoy Pair of the Year 2017. JoshLia is a recipient of German Moreno Power Tandem Award at the 2017 PMPC Star Awards for Television.

With 1,584 votes, Agoncillo Family is Pinoy Celebrity Family of the Year 2017. TV hosts and actors Ryan Agoncillo and Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo are parents to daughters Johanna Louis (Yohan) and Juana Luisa (Luna) and son Juan Luis (Lucho).

Darren Espanto was named Pinoy Teen Icon of the Year 2017. Half of the percentage of votes for the category was received by Espanto. He started singing at the age of two, and first joined a competition at the age of ten, he won the Masters Finals of the ‘Pinoy Singing Sensation’ competition in Edmonton. He made his first television appearance at the age of ten when he joined YTV’s reality television ‘The Next Star’ in 2012; he became the youngest finalist in the history of the show to be included in the Top 6. However, he rose to prominence after joining the first season of ‘The Voice Kids Philippines’.

Espanto released his first full-length self-titled studio album, ‘Darren’, in December 2014, under MCA Music Inc. (Philippines), a Universal Music Group company. It debuted at number one on the Philippine charts of Apple’s iTunes store and Astro Chart; it is now a certified Platinum album. Last May 2016, he released his sophomore album titled ‘Be with Me’, also under MCA Music Inc. (Philippines), featuring his carrier single “7 Minutes”, that was then followed by ‘Starlight’ and ‘Parachute’, which also became number 1 on the Philippine charts of Apple’s iTunes store after just being released.

Garnering more than half of the percentage of votes, Baeby Baste is Pinoy Young Star of the Year 2017. He is the youngest host in the present roster of presenters of the longest-running noontime variety show ‘Eat Bulaga!’. To date, Baeby Baste is also the ‘youngest recording artist’ of the country with his dance single entitled ‘Bastelicious’.

Kim Chiu topped the scoreboard for Pinoy Star Fashionista of the Year 2017 with 68.51% of votes, followed by James Reid with 13.80%. Chiu was hailed Princess of Philippine Movies and TV for her accomplishments in the film and television industry.

With 37.75% of total votes, Jessica Soho is Pinoy News Personality of the Year 2017, followed by Araullo with 25.17%. Soho is known as the host of the news magazine program ‘Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho’ on GMA Network and the newscast ‘State of the Nation with Jessica Soho’ on GMA News TV. In 1998, Soho became the first Filipino to win the British Fleet Journalism Award. The same year, Soho and the ‘I-Witness’ team received a George Foster Peabody Award for the ‘Kidneys for Sale’ and ‘Kamao. Soho’s story of a hostage crisis in Cagayan Valley made her the first Filipino to win in the New York Film Festival for Coverage of a Breaking Story.

Julia Gonowon bested 37 other candidates from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to win Eat, Bulaga’s anniversary segment Miss Millennial 2017 during the coronation day held 30 September 2017 at the Mall of Asia Arena. With 59.75% of votes, Gonowon bested 7 other candidates to win Pinoy Reality Star of the Year 2017. Maymay Entrata of Pinoy Big Brother Lucky Season 7 placed second with 30.03%.

The Kapuso Network, GMA-7, was named Pinoy TV Station of the Year 2017 beating ABS-CBN with 58.17% of votes against 23.00%. ABS-CBN was the Pinoy TV Station of the Year 2013. GMA News TV and CNN Philippines placed third and fourth, respectively.

With 3,279 votes or 57.53%, ‘Destined to be Yours’ of GMA-7 is Pinoy Teleserye of the Year 2017. Runner-ups to the said TV series are ABS-CBN’s ‘La Luna Sangre’ with 1,366 votes or 23.96% and ‘A Love to Last’ with 906 votes or 15.89%. ‘Destined to be Yours’ is AlDub’s first prime time television series and follows the story of star-crossed lovers Sinag (Mendoza) and Benjie (Richards).

A special citation is awarded to ABS-CBN’s ‘The Greatest Love’ as the Family-Oriented Pinoy Teleserye of the Year 2017. The TV series is a story about a loving and selfless mother Gloria (Sylvia Sanchez) to Amanda (Dimples Romana), Andrei (Matt Evans), Paeng (Arron Villaflor), and Lizelle (Andi Eigenmann). As Gloria struggles to keep her family together, she starts to show symptoms of dementia and begins to lose pieces of her memory. She initially brushes off the symptoms until she discovered that she has Alzheimer’s disease. The TV series also features the outstanding act of Garcia as Z.

Another special citation is awarded to ABS-CBN’s ‘The Good Son’ for its actors who are Pinoy Ensemble Cast of the Year 2017 after receiving rave reviews for its September to date episodes. The cast is lead by Garcia with Jerome Ponce, Nash Aguas, McCoy de Leon, Eula Valdez, Mylene Dizon, John Estrada, Loisa Andalio, Elisse Joson, Alexa Ilacad, Jeric Raval, Liza Lorena, Ronnie Lazaro, Alex Medina, and Kathleen Hermosa.

It’s not yet an end to the long list of awards of Mendoza from this year’s Social Media Awards. Mendoza was named Pinay Act of the Year with 17,108 votes or 88.50%. Mendoza featured in the 2015 film ‘My Bebe Love: #KiligPaMore’ where she received an award for ‘Best Supporting Actress’ at the 41st Metro Manila Film Festival. She became the lead actress in the 2017 film ‘Imagine You & Me’, where she also wrote and sang the theme song. Mendoza received numerous awards from 2015 but the most recent awards she received include Princess of Philippine Movies at the 48th GMMSF Box-Office Entertainment Awards and German Moreno Youth Achievement Award at the recently concluded 65th Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) Awards.

Padilla may have just won Best Actor at the 65th FAMAS but a surprise from 2017 is yet to unwrap as he was named Pinoy Act of the Year 2017 garnering 1,327 votes or 65.18%, followed by Ian Veneracion with 15.77% and Paolo Ballesteros with 13.70%. Padilla earned numerous awards in television, film and music sections including GMMSF Box-Office Entertainment Awards for Box Office King, Awit Awards and PMPC Star Awards for Best Selling Album of the Year. His hit song ‘Simpleng Tulad Mo’ has won Myx Music Awards for Favorite Song. In his career, he has received three World Music Awards nominations in 2013, and become the first Pinoy artist to win Kids’ Choice Awards for Global Slime Star.

A special citation is given to Sanchez as Phenomenal Pinay Actress of the Year 2017 for her one-of-a-kind performance in ‘The Greatest Love’ which gave her the following awards Best Performance by an Actress in a series at the 15th Gawad Tanglaw Awards and Best TV Actress in a Drama Program at the 25th KBP Golden Dove Awards.

This year must be Garcia’s year as he was awarded by VoicePoints Phenomenal Pinoy Actor of the Year 2017 for putting his passion and art in acting either in the silver or big screens. Garcia is the Most Promising Movie Actor of the Year given by the 48th Box Office Entertainment Awards and New Movie Actor of the Year at the 33rd PMPC Star Awards for Movies.

A TV series or a movie is not complete without a kontrabida. This one of the new awards for this year’s edition of Social Media Awards, Pinoy Kontrabida of the Year, was given to Richard Gutierrez. With 38.97% of votes, Gutierrez was loved by the viewers despite of his villain role his took up this 2017 for ABS-CBN’s ‘La Luna Sangre’. Placing second to Gutierrez is Ryza Cenon garnering 27.21% of votes.

According to Twitter Philippines, “Filipinos couldn’t stop talking” about the film, releasing 700,000 tweets related to the movie from 10-17 April. Netizens can’t help but give their positive reviews, ratings and comments about the movie. This might be the reason why ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ was named Pinoy Movie of the Year 2017 garnering 86.58% of votes.

‘Titibo-Tibo’, interpreted by dela Torre was named as the winner of the Himig Handog 2017 competition. The same song won LSS of the Year 2017 garnering 49.26% of votes. Composed by Libertine Amistoso, the fun track is about a girl who finds herself acting more lady-like after falling in love with a guy. Finishing at second place is ‘Two Less Lonely People in the World’, interpreted by KZ Tandingan, with 28.57% of votes.

Dela Torre is also winning big as she garnered 1,568 votes or 78.05% for Original Pinoy Music Artist of the Year 2017. Placing second to Dela Torre is Tandingan receiving 16.33% of votes.

Coron, Palawan is one of the top ten best scuba diving sites in the world listed by Forbes Traveler Magazine. This made Coron Pinoy Destination of the Year 2017 garnering 21.24%. Other destinations that made to the top five Pinoy Destination of the Year 2017 are:
2. Cebu – 18.65%
3. El Nido, Palawan – 13.99%
4. Boracay – 13.47%
5. Batanes – 10.36%

Visit these places this coming year and enjoy the beauty of the Philippine nature.

At VoicePoints, we don’t only only recognize individuals and organizations but also brands. There is no denying that Jollibee has always been a part of our lives and will always have a special place in our hearts. Last February 2017, Jollibee celebrates the joy of love with different real-life Jollibee stories featured in ‘Kwentong Jollibee Series’. The first in the three-part video series entitled ‘Vow’ instantly became viral shortly after it was posted on Jollibee’s Facebook page. It’s a story of a guy who meets ‘the one’ at Jollibee and instantly fell in love with her. He then dedicates himself to her as he vowed to make her happy no matter what. But the plot twist of the story will break your heart yet will make you believe that sometimes, people love without expecting anything in return. This trend made a spotlight to netizens, making it the Pinoy TV Commercial of the Year, garnering 46.67% of votes, followed by ‘May RiteMED ba nito with Susan Roces’ by RiteMED with 20.00% of votes and ‘NESFRUTA Buko? Why not, coconut!’ by Nestle Philippines with 22.22% of votes.

These individuals, organizations and brands are determined to promote literacy, environmentalism, and compassion. These define the Philippine social media this year.