Fridae

ELEMENT magazine is the organizer behind the inaugural Asia Pink Awards. Launched a year ago, the magazine decides to celebrate its one-year anniversary by celebrating Asia’s most inspiring LGBT rights heroes. The previously unveiled nominees include big names such as Mandopop singer A-Mei, Japanese openly-gay politician Taiga Ishikawa, and Sonia Gandhi, etc.

On 16th March, the Awards will announce 10 recipients from the individuals’ category and 3 recipients from the corporates’ category chosen by a distinguished panel of experienced journalists. The event will take place in a private gallery, named Dream Factory.

Ines Ligron, a French fashion and beauty expert, sponsor of the venue for the event said, “I’m excited to have the event here. The Awards shows that anyone can stand up and fight for what’s right because these recipients come from all walks of life; politician, lawyer, social worker, activist, pastor, celebrity”. 

Highlights of the event include the role of the Master of Ceremony which will be held by Sebastian Castro, the hunk most known for his music video “Bubble” that went viral on Youtube. Paolo Ferrarini, a popular singer in the Italian LGBTQI community, will also be performing songs from his new album at the Awards ceremony.

There will be six well-established LGBTQI organizations from all over the region who will be speaking at the pre-Awards seminar which takes place in the afternoon prior to the Awards. There will be participation from Shanghai PRIDE (China), TAPCPR (Taiwan), Community Business (Hong Kong), Free Community Church (Singapore) and more. Through the seminar, the event will also encourage exchange of experiences, lessons learnt and best practices in terms of LGBTQI rights movement in Asian countries.

Many corporate allies have also confirmed their attendance to celebrate “an inclusive Asia” via the Awards platform, including Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Fred Perry, VISA, Unilever, BP Oil etc. But if you think local Singapore companies are not part of the event, local entrepreneurs such as Eugene He, CEO/Founder of Tek Eight Laboratories, Edison Ong, founder of Letat Agencies, a multiple liquor distributor and David Tan, CEO of Hannah Holdings, will tell you that they have sponsored the event.

The Awards Ceremony is also a fund-raising event for Action For AIDS (AFA) Singapore. The proceeded will be used to support HIV/AIDS Patients who can’t afford medication bills, whether they are straight or gay.

The Awards ceremony will take place in the evening followed by an after-party sponsored by Plun.asia, too. It also works with Galerie & Sogan Art to host a mini-exhibition concurrently called “Can You See Me” for 2 weeks, featuring Vietnamese photographer Maika Elan’s “The Pink Choice”, along with other participating artists and photographers. Hiro Mizuhara, Associate Publisher/Creative Director of ELEMENT said, “This is a great opportunity to network and witness a milestone in the Asian LGBTQI community. The Awards is primarily a platform to pull focus and for the LGBTQI Asian community to remain salient in the public sphere”.