The Latin Drama Awards celebrate one of the great storytelling traditions of modern television: the Latin drama, from the telenovela to the scripted series pouring out of Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, and beyond. Part of the annual iFANN Drama Awards, this campaign honors the industry behind the romances, the family sagas, and the fandoms that turned a regional craft into a worldwide habit.
This is an industry award, not a nationality contest. It celebrates Latin drama as a body of work with worldwide reach, and it hands the decision to the fans who fell for these stories everywhere from Manila to Moscow to Lagos. Three honors sit under this page: Best Latin Drama for the series, Best Latin Actor, and Best Latin Actress.
What the award honors
The Latin Drama Awards recognize the finest work coming out of the Latin drama industry across a full year of storytelling. It spans the sweeping telenovela romances, the grand family sagas, the crime dramas, and the modern series that keep fans hooked from the first episode to the final reveal.
There are three distinct honors here. Best Latin Drama celebrates the series itself, the ensemble effort and the world it built. Best Latin Actor and Best Latin Actress celebrate the performers who carried those stories and gave fans a reason to keep tuning in night after night.
An industry with global fans
The telenovela is one of the most widely exported television formats in history. Latin dramas are dubbed and subtitled for audiences in well over a hundred countries, adored across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the United States for decades. In many of these places a Latin series is not a niche curiosity, it is prime time that families gather around every evening.
That global reach is exactly why this award belongs on iFANN. An industry loved on this many continents deserves a stage where its worldwide fandom, not only its home audience, gets to decide who wins. Celebrating work that travels the world and moves people everywhere is the whole point of what we do here.
Chosen by fans worldwide
Winners are not chosen by Latin American viewers alone. They are chosen by the international fan base that made Latin drama a global success, the people watching dubbed and subtitled episodes in Istanbul, Manila, Nairobi, Warsaw, and everywhere in between.
Every fan on iFANN can nominate and vote, wherever they live. If a series or a performer meant something to you and your corner of the world, your voice counts here just as much as anyone's, and that is how the winners are meant to be found.
Our selection philosophy
The process begins with fans submitting the people and works they believe deserve recognition. iFANN's internal editorial team reviews every nomination for category fit, eligibility, identity, duplication, and abuse. Accepted nominees join the public ballot. After public voting closes, the iFANN International Editorial Board independently ranks the five finalists.
Winners are decided by the published combined score: fan votes contribute 60 percent, and the International Editorial Board's independent ranking of the five finalists contributes 40 percent.
Why it runs once a year
The Latin Drama Awards are part of the annual iFANN Drama Awards, a themed campaign that runs once a year rather than every month. Because a great telenovela season unfolds over many months, the voting window is a long one: it opens in September and runs through December, giving the worldwide fan base time to rally behind their favorites.
There is no monthly version of this award. It is deliberately annual, a single yearly moment to crown the best of Latin drama. Winners are celebrated and promoted across the iFANN social platform, featured on the iFANN Pop Show, and each receives a physical engraved iFANN trophy along with a permanent place in the awards archive.
Best Latin Drama
Best Latin Drama honors the standout Latin American series of the year, in the tradition that gave the world the telenovela. From the classic primetime melodramas of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia to the ambitious Spanish and Portuguese language dramas now topping streaming charts worldwide, it is a category built on stories of passion, family and reinvention.
Nominations are open across every country, language and platform, and fans put forward the series that gripped them. This award marks the Latin drama that most captured audiences at home and among the global following its stories have long enjoyed.
Best Latin Actor
Best Latin Actor recognizes the leading men of Latin American television, heirs to the great telenovela tradition and stars of the Spanish and Portuguese language dramas now watched worldwide. From classic romance to gritty modern thrillers, Latin drama offers its actors rich and demanding roles.
This category celebrates the male performance that stood out across the year, in a lead or key supporting role. Fans nominate the actors whose work they loved, from established stars to the breakout names of the season.
Best Latin Actress
Best Latin Actress honors the women of Latin American drama, from the icons of the telenovela to the leads of the new Spanish and Portuguese language series conquering global streaming. These are performances of passion, range and genuine star power, in a tradition built around them.
The award recognizes the year's finest female performance across leading and supporting roles. Fans put forward the actresses whose work moved them, celebrating both beloved stars and the rising talents shaping the future of Latin drama.