Rico Hizon has won the 2023 Best Factual Presenter award for the Philippines at the Asian Academy Creative Awards (AACA), a top-tier accolade for creative excellence in the Asia-Pacific region patterned after the International Emmy Awards. The grand finals takes place in December in Singapore.

The award was announced during a Sept. 28 livestream, which showcased over 300 national winners across 36 categories. Known for his exceptional journalism on CNN Philippines’ nightly news show, “The Final Word with Rico Hizon,” the news channel’s senior news anchor is a force to reckon with. Pilar Manuel, senior news producer, underscores Hizon’s commitment to excellence: “We treat every weeknight as an opportunity to inspire, collaborate with and learn from one another. Yet despite all these achievements, our anchor and the team never rests on his laurels and always reminds us we’re only as good as our last show.”

This isn’t Hizon’s first brush with accolades; he bagged his second national AACA win with this award. His first AACA came in 2020 with a Best News Program award for “The Final Word,” signaling his successful return to Philippine TV after 25 years of international reporting for BBC News and CNBC.

Hizon also won back-to-back Asian Television Awards (ATA) for Best News Anchor and Best News Program, also for “The Final Word.” Prior to returning to his country, Hizon had won the ATA for his BBC program, “Newsday.”

Competing in the AACA grand finals, Hizon faces a roster of esteemed presenters from Australia (Rachel Perkins), Hong Kong SAR (Priscilla Wong), India (Levison Wood), Indonesia (Riko Anggara), Singapore (Martin Soong) and Taiwan (Lee Chen-Chen). The judging standards are aligned with the International Emmy Awards, guaranteeing that global benchmarks evaluate Asia-Pacific talents.

The AACA Grand Awards and Gala Finals are set to take place at Singapore’s historic Chijmes Hall on Dec. 7.