Glamour’s 2016 Women of the Year Awards Lights Up LA

Lena Dunham, Gabourey Sidibe, and Tracee Ellis Ross (Photo by Jeff Vespa/Getty Images for Glamour)

For the first time, Glamour took its Women of the Year Awards—the annual evening of inspiration, tear-jerker moments, and the requisite dose of star power—to the West Coast. Guests headed to the NeueHouse Hollywood in Los Angeles to watch honorees pick up their prize and spout famously emotive speeches (those who stayed back east were able to watch it live on Facebook). And in honor of the evening, LAX’s pylons lit up in Glamour pink.

Black-ish star Tracee Ellis Ross opened the ceremony, which recognized a slew of inspiring women, and for the first time, a man: Olympic gymnast Simone Biles; Black Lives Matter founders Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi; Stanford sexual assault survivor Emily Doe; model and body activist Ashley Graham; International Monetary Fund Managing Director and Lifetime Achievement winner Christine Lagarde; anti-ISIS activist Nadia Murad; designer Miuccia Prada; singer and style icon Gwen Stefani; actress and activist Zendaya; and the first Man of the Year, Bono. 

“In this historic year for women, Glamour is proud to honor these wonderful and wildly diverse trailblazers,” said editor in chief, Cindi Leive. “Each honoree, including our first-ever Man of the Year, Bono, is changing the conversation and the culture, and making life better not just for herself—or himself!—but for all women.” 

The A-List presenters included Mindy Kaling, James Corden, Shonda Rhimes, Amy Poehler, Amber Heard, Lena Dunham, Freida Pinto, Gabby Sidibe, Rowan Blanchard, Joe Jonas, Laura Dern, Rashida Jones, Anna Wintour, Yara Shahidi, Keke Palmer, Elizabeth Banks, Constance Wu, Adam Scott, Chelsea Handler and musical guest, Demi Lovato. 

Seeing how it was a night of many firsts, it only made sense to debut the “Made for Achieving Award,” given out by Microsoft Office to empower young women. The winner was Yasmine El Baggari, who launched Voyaj, an online platform that matches hosts and travelers worldwide with the goal to dissolve stereotypes.

The night ended with a tribute to Hillary Clinton. Jack Antonoff (of the band Fun) played the guitar as a handful of the presenters thanked Hillary for fighting for reproductive rights, for women’s voices, for gender equity, and more. Until next year!