The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation has named Miyazaki Hayao, co-founder of Studio Ghibli, as one of the 2024 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees. This recognition highlights Miyazaki’s contributions to animation and his ability to address complex issues like environmental destruction and conflict through his films, which resonate with audiences of all ages.
In over five decades of working as a filmmaker, he has written, produced, and directed countless films tackling issues such as war and psychological trauma, climate change, environmental protection, feminism, and self-empowerment. Miyazaki’s films including My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Princess Mononoke (1997), and Spirited Away (2001), blend intricate plots and rich, thematic storytelling with
deep, thought-provoking insights that encourage reflection on global challenges.
Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli have set the bar higher by aiming for children as their target audience, arguably the most difficult to engage and please. Ghibli films have a devoted adult following, but Miyazaki has never lost his original and main focus. For him, children comprise a clear and critical audience capable of imbibing complex issues if their imaginations can be suitably provoked and directed.
Miyazaki was elected to receive the 2024 Ramon Magsaysay Award. His official citation reads, “A gifted and exemplary artist who has demonstrated, in his work and outlook, a lifelong commitment to the use of art, specifically animation, to illuminate the human condition, especially lauding his devotion to children as the torchbearers of the imagination, to whom he has passed the light and spark of his own.”
In an official statement released to the Foundation, Miyazaki shared, “I am delighted to receive the very prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award. It would be a great honor if it were the result of my films being accepted by many Asian people and giving the strength to live, especially to the children born there. I have heard that the Award has been given in the past to respected film director Akira Kurosawa and the poet Michiko Ishimure. I am deeply honored and humbled to join the ranks of those who have received this.”
Included in this year’s roster of Ramon Magsaysay Awardees are Karma Phuntsho (Bhutan), the Rural Doctors Movement (Thailand), Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong (Vietnam), and for Emergent Leadership Farwiza Farhan (Indonesia).
The 66th Ramon Magsaysay Awards Presentation Ceremonies will be held on 16 November 2024 at the Metropolitan Theater in Manila, Philippines where this year’s recipients will formally receive their respective Ramon Magsaysay Award medallion and certificate. The Presentation Ceremonies will be livestreamed on the Ramon Magsaysay Award’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.