ABS-CBN North America bureau correspondent Yong Chavez is among new members of the prestigious Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), gaining the right to vote in the Golden Globe Awards.

In a report on Variety, the HFPA welcomed 21 new members this year, the largest class in the organization’s history, emphasizing diversity.

The inclusion of the journalists increased the membership of HFPA by 20 percent.

“We are thrilled to welcome these new members into our family. We are building a new organization, one that is not focused on fulfilling quotas, but instead has diversity and inclusion at its core,” said HFPA president Helen Hoehne.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Yong Chavez (@yongchavez)

In a letter received by Chavez from the association, she is entitled to all the “privileges, rights, and responsibilities afforded all active members including being granted full voting rights in the 2021 Golden Globe Awards.”

"It’s only the first day of Filipino American History Month and my birth month, and I’m already crying. WOW. THANK YOU. I’ve talked/messaged with so many of you today. I owe each one of you who has been inclusive, generous, loving, supportive all these years," Chavez said on her Instagram account.

"This is a tremendous honor and responsibility. I look forward to working hard and amplifying diverse, underrepresented voices. I look forward to being part of the new HFPA era," she added.

HFPA was earlier criticized for having no Black members, prompting the organization to start reforms and introduce new policies.

According to Variety, 29% of the 21 new members are Black, 24% Asians, and 29% Latinos, while 48% of them are women.

Here is the complete list of HFPA Class of 2021.

• Raffi Boghosian, Al Arabiya
• Kelley Carter, ESPN (Global)
• David Caspi, Israel Hayom
• Yong Chavez, ABS-CBN News
• Andrés Correa Guatarasma, El Universal
• Earl Gibson III, Getty Images
• Eun Seon Ha, KOFIC
• Hamdy Howaida, El Akhbar
• Itsuko Hirai, Movie Walker Press
• K.J. Matthews, DW-TV
• Juan Navarro, Televisa
• Jânio Carlos Vieira Nazareth, Cinépop
• Ruben Peralta-Rigaud, SensaCine
• Gerardo Prat, ¡HOLA! TV
• Kimberly Reyes, Film Ireland
• Mico Saad, TeN TV
• Asel Sherniyazova, AKIpress News Agency
• Gabriel Silva Lamboglia, El País
• Miriam Spritzer, L’Officiel Brasil
• Mario Pacheco Székely, El Universal
• Yuko Yoshikawa, Cinema Today