Metro Manila, Philippines — Beloved Japanese animator and Studio Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki is among this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Awardees.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation announced the 2024 honorees list on Saturday, Aug. 31.
Miyazaki was joined by Farwiza Farhan of Indonesia, The Rural Doctors Movement of Thailand, Karma Phuntsho of Bhutan, and Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong of Vietnam.
“For four decades, Miyazaki Hayao has not only delighted the global audience, both young and old alike, but has taught all of us through the magic of animation to dream of peace and better societies and to view the world with wonder and awe,” the foundation said of Miyazaki.
The trustees took note of how Studio Ghibli films tackle subjects like environmental destruction, the horrors of war and conflict, and fear of the unknown “with such nuance and care that they have redefined our concepts of pacifism, environmentalism, and self-empowerment.”
The animation studio was behind the classics “My Neighbor Totoro,” “Howl’s Moving Castle,” “Princess Mononoke,” and “Spirited Away” — works where Miyazaki was credited as director and screenwriter.
Farhan was the 2024 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Emergent Leadership. She founded HAkA, a foundation dedicated to protecting, preserving, and restoring the Leuser Ecosystem.
The Rural Doctors Movement was recognized for its “historic and continuing contribution to their people’s health” as it championed healthcare for rural poor in Thailand.
The foundation highlighted the work of Phuntsho, a Bhutanese thought leader, who founded the Loden Foundation in 1999 and has documented “3,348 hours of intangible culture, digitized 4.55 million pages of texts, captured 150,000 images of art and artifacts, and supported sixty-one cultural projects.”
Meanwhile, Nguyen, a doctor during the Vietnam war, “dedicated her life to uncovering the truth about Agent Orange, seeking justice for its victims, and aiding the afflicted through her research and work with the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA),” the trustees said.
“These transformative leaders are molding norms, stoking pathways, painting virtues, transforming systems, weaving peace, remaining a world born from countless dreams,” Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation chairperson Cecilia Lazaro said of this year’s awardees.
The foundation brands the Ramon Magsaysay Award as “Asia’s premier prize and highest honor,” and it is also often called Asia’s Nobel Prize.
The presentation ceremonies will be held on Nov. 16 at the Metropolitan Theater in Manila.
