The Lo Nuestro Excellence Award (Spanish: Premio Lo Nuestro a la Excelencia) is an award honoring an artist's contribution to Latin music. It was first awarded at the 2nd Annual Lo Nuestro Awards in 1990 and has since been presented annually. The Lo Nuestro Awards were established by American television network Univision in 1989 to recognize the most talented performers of Latin music. Before the inception of the Latin Grammy Awards in 2000, the Lo Nuestro Awards were considered to be the Latin music equivalent of the Grammy Awards. Unlike the other award categories, where the nominees and winners are decided by the public through an online survey, the recipients of the Excellence Award are selected by Univision and Billboard magazine. The trophy awarded is shaped in the form of a treble clef. During the presentation, a tribute is held to the winner which features highlights of their career and several artists performing live covers of the recipient's notable songs.

The Excellence Award was first presented to Cuban singer Celia Cruz. Since its inception, the accolade has been mostly given to individuals, though five musical ensembles have also earned the achievement. Artists from Mexico have received the trophy more than any other nationalities with 16. Cuban-American singer Gloria Estefan was honored with the Excellence Award in 1992 while her husband Emilio Estefan was bestowed with the accolade two years later. They were both presented with the award again in 2018. Mexican singer Antonio Aguilar was given the accolade in 2000 and his son Pepe Aguilar earned it in 2012. Juan Luis Guerra was honored with the trophy in 2007 and was later recognized as Person of the Year by the Latin Recording Academy in the same year. The most recent recipient of the Excellence Award is Puerto Rican rapper Wisin who was presented with the accolade in 2021.

Recipients

Year	Image	Recipient	Nationality	Ref.
1990 (2nd)		Celia Cruz	Cuba United States
1991 (3rd)		Juan Gabriel	Mexico
		Plácido Domingo	Spain
1992 (4th)		Gloria Estefan	Cuba United States
1993 (5th)		Armando Manzanero	Mexico
1994 (6th)		Emilio Estefan	Cuba United States
1995 (7th)		Julio Iglesias	Spain
1996 (8th)		Marco Antonio Solís	Mexico
1997 (9th)		Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán	Mexico
1998 (10th)	—	Los Panchos	United States
1999 (11th)		Los Tigres del Norte	United States
2000 (12th)		Antonio Aguilar	Mexico
2001 (13th)		Joan Sebastian	Mexico
2002 (14th)		José José	Mexico
2003 (15th)		Luis Miguel	Mexico United States
2004 (16th)		Ricky Martin	Puerto Rico United States
2005 (17th)		Los Temerarios	Mexico
2006 (18th)		Ana Gabriel	Mexico
2007 (19th)		Juan Luis Guerra	Dominican Republic
2008 (20th)		Vicente Fernández	Mexico
2009 (21st)		Emmanuel	Mexico
2010 (22nd)		Chayanne	Puerto Rico United States
2011 (23rd)		Maná	Mexico
2012 (24th)		Pepe Aguilar	United States
2013 (25th)		Alejandro Sanz	Spain
2014 (26th)		Marc Anthony	United States
2015 (27th)		Ricardo Arjona	Guatemala
2016 (28th)		Carlos Vives	Colombia
2017 (29th)		Romeo Santos	United States
2018 (30th)		Emilio Estefan	Cuba United States
		Gloria Estefan
2019 (31st)		Roberto Carlos	Brazil
2020 (32nd)		Raphael	Spain
2021 (33rd)		Wisin	Puerto Rico United States

See also

• Billboard Latin Music Lifetime Achievement Award
• Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
• List of lifetime achievement awards