In what is the first annual Stevie® Awards for Technology Excellence—considered the “Olympics for technology,” PLDT Group’s Cathy Yang has been feted Gold Stevie® Winner, clinching the highest recognition under the category, “Executive of the Year—Communication Technology”.

The Stevie® Awards for Technology Excellence celebrate the remarkable accomplishments of individuals, teams, and organizations shaping the future of technology across all industry sectors. More than 100 professionals worldwide participated in the judging process to select this year’s honorees.

Judges have recognized Yang and her team’s role in leveraging corporate communications through innovation and technology, propagating safe spaces online, by liaising with international partners such as UNICEF in integrating child rights into the business. In December 2022, Yang’s invitation by the King and Queen of Sweden to represent PLDT Group and the Philippines in the Global Child Forum (GCF) in Stockholm has become testament to the positive influence PLDT Group wields through strategic communications on child protection. Among global child rights advocates, Yang is the only Philippine and Southeast Asian representative chosen to share PLDT Group’s best practices on child protection initiatives.

In 2023, PLDT has been recognized as a Leader in the GCF’s latest global children’s rights and business benchmark, a global assessment and report on the state of children’s rights across 1,108 companies, in eight sectors and six regions. The application of a child rights lens into policies from inside PLDT Group and outwards to the communities it operates has helped become the bedrock of Yang and her team’s strategic communications, in a whole-of-nation approach to preventing the proliferation of online sexual abuse and exploitation of children.

Winners of the awards—named the Stevies® from the Greek word meaning “crowned,” will be recognized during a gala awards dinner on September 16 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.

More than 600 nominations from organizations of all sizes in 21 nations and territories were submitted this year for consideration in a wide range of tech-related categories, including Company of the Year, Educational or Research Institution of the Year, Technical Innovation of the Year, Technology Breakthrough of the Year, and more in a variety of industry groupings including Advertising, Marketing, and PR, Aerospace Technology, Biotechnology, Business Technology, Healthcare Technology, among others.

Details about the Stevie® Awards for Technology Excellence and the list of 2024 Stevie® winners are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Tech.