On Thursday, April 25, the Long Beach Post hosted an event to honor young people from around the city who are doing great things to better their community and beyond. Out of hundreds of nominations from our readers, judges chose 40 winners who run the gamut from educators to artists to business owners to community activists, all of whom represent just a selection of those who are today contributing to the betterment of Long Beach.

A world-renowned rapper with a decade-long history of service to Long Beach’s Cambodian-American community, Prach—who raps in both English and Khmer—represents what is known as Generation 1.5, or those who were born in Cambodia but raised in America. Prach graduated from Jordan High School and went on to release three albums of groundbreaking politicized rap that made him a hip-hop superstar in Cambodia and beyond. Though he often speaks about genocide and the Khmer experience at major universities around the country, he is currently spending most of his time planning the first-ever Cambodia Town Film Festival, which will be held at the Art Theatre this September.

For more about the Cambodia Town Film Festival, visit cambodiatownfilmfestival.com