We received an overflowing amount of submissions for Top AAPI Unsung Heroes 2009, showing the importance of recognizing community leaders that often organize a good amount of behind-the-scenes work on a regular basis, but do not garner enough attention for all the hard work that they do.

The winners are:

With countless nominations:

1. Siwaraya Rochanahusdin for work on Save Berkeley Thai Temple.

2. John Delloro for work in the labor movement.

All other winners in no particular order are:

Yuh-Line Niou for public policy work at Poverty Action Network.

Steve Nguyen for work on increasing media representation of Asian Pacific Americans (APAs) and role on channelAPA.

Steve Ngo for electoral campaign work, legal advocacy, and education.

Fuifuilupe Niumeitolu i for work in Pacific Islander issues and education.

Helen Gym for work in various sectors and particularly as a board member of Asian Americans United.

Ben de Guzman for dedication to the passage of Filipino World War II Veterans Equity as the National Coordinator of National Alliance for Filipino Veterans Equity (NAFVE) and in the AAPI LGBT community.

We hope that in next year, 2010, and in the future that APAP continues to help cultivate progressive leadership in all sectors as a part of the progressive movement.