TECHO Takes 2026 .ORG of the Year Award To Become First  Latin America Based  Winner of Public Interest Registry's Highest  Honor

Public Interest Registry (PIR), the people behind the .ORG domain, announced the winners of the 2026 .ORG Impact Awards October 6th at an annual celebration in Washington, D.C. The Awards recognize and reward outstanding mission-driven individuals and organizations from around the world for their positive contributions to society. 

Seven category winners were selected from over 4,200 applicants from 145 countries with the winner of the prestigious .Org of the Year Award - TECHO.org - selected from that elite group. Techo received a $50,000 donation from PIR, part of a $180,000 prize pool that was distributed to winners from these categories: Community Building ~ Quality Education for All ~ Environmental Stewardship ~ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion ~ Health and Healing ~ Hunger and Poverty ~ and Rising Star (leaders under 30 making a difference in their communities).

The 8th annual .ORG of the Year Award recognized youth-led nonprofit TECHO's work to fight extreme poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean. The judging panel was inspired by how TECHO, the first Latin America-based organization to win the prestigious award, brings people together to create lasting change in their own communities - doing that at a scale that demonstrates the extraordinary power of collective action. TECHO won the award just a year after being a finalist for the honor in last year's competition.

This year marks a major milestone for the .ORG Impact Awards: since the program began eight years ago, Public Interest Registry has now awarded more than $1 million to support the extraordinary work of .ORGs around the world through the awards. 

PIR CEO Jon Nevett noted, "The work that this year's .ORG of the Year winner, TECHO, does to mobilize local communities to solve the housing crisis across Latin America is critical and should energize us all to do more to help each other. We're honored to support their work and excited that the awards have become a community that organizations keep coming back to."

José Ayerza, Global CEO of TECHO, added, "Being named .ORG of the Year is an incredible honor, but this recognition belongs to the families, communities and volunteers across Latin America who have built this movement together. We are ready to keep moving forward and thank PIR for believing in us."

Here in the complete of Category winners in the 2026 .ORG Impact Awards competition:
Community Building – TECHO
Quality Education for All – Style Her Empowered (SHE)
Environmental Stewardship – Friends of Tonga
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – Boys Champions Foundation
Health and Healing – Hope to Walk
Hunger and Poverty – Food4Education Foundation
Rising Star – Dr. Adriana Viola Miranda, 1000 Days Fund

(Posted October 12, 2026)  

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