President's Merit Award

Lin-Manuel Miranda with the President's Merit Award from the Latin Recording Academy - given at their 18th annual celebration - for his outstanding contributions to the Latin Community. This recognized the creation of the song "Almost Like Praying", a fundraising project that came out during the devastating hit of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. It was written, composed, recorded and produced within 8 days; over 20 international Latin artists participated, such as Marc Anthony, Gloria Estefan, Jennifer Lopez, Ruben Blades and Juan Luis Guerra. The single went No. 1 on the digital songs chart after a week of being released, and the proceeds were all donated to Hispanic Federation's UNIDOS Disaster Relief Fund.