Welcome to the 10th Annual POZ Awards, spotlighting the best representatives of HIV and AIDS in media and culture.
The POZ editorial staff selects the nominees, but POZ readers choose the winners.
Eligible nominees were active or were presented, published or produced between October 1, 2024, and September 30, 2025.
Voting is now closed.
BEST CELEBRITY ADVOCATE
When Cohen decided to move out of his West Village apartment and downsize, the treasure trove of his closet — which included clothing, as well as boatloads of Bravo memorabilia — became materials for a Housing Works fundraiser. “I don’t know how long Housing Works has been around, but certainly, in my 35 years in New York City, they’ve always been a presence,” Cohen told Time Out in July, just as the fundraiser was set to begin. “There was no question in my mind that when I wound up downsizing all of my stuff, I would want to do a big partnership with them.” Housing Works was founded in 1990.
As Republicans gathered to cut HIV prevention funding by at least $1.7 billion in their annual budget, two stage stars, Head Over Heels’ Peppermint and Hamiliton’s Javier Muñoz, came together to speak out. They joined activists in the Save HIV Funding initiative and lobbied to halt the legislation. “They will put us back to where we started. We will be back to HIV wards — AIDS wards — in hospitals,” Muñoz said at the time, per The Advocate. “We will be dwindled down. We will watch our loved ones die again, and it is completely needless. We are in the position to do more and better, and it’s inexcusable to even have these cuts on the table.”
Though Reubens, better known to the world as Pee-Wee Herman, died in 2023, his story was told more roundly in the documentary Pee-Wee as Himself, which was released this year via HBO. During the film, Herman spoke openly about visiting his former partner, Guy, in the hospital as he was dying from AIDS-related complications. But, Reubens also underscored that Guy served as inspiration for the iconic character Pee-Wee Herman, and that many of his quirky and unique vocalizations were homage to his earliest love.
While being honored at this year’s amfAR Palm Beach Gala, business mogul Martha Stewart spoke openly about losing people during the earliest days of the AIDS crisis. She also noted the need for a renewed dedication to using PrEP to fight the spread of HIV and preserving funding for PEPFAR, the international U.S. program that has notably saved millions of lives worldwide. “We can be inspired by what amfAR has accomplished, and we can stand by them — and fund them — in all that they are poised to accomplish in the near future,” she said in her acceptance speech.
