At this annual PALCUS Leadership Awards gala, Dulce Maria Scott was distinguished in the "Education" category, José Costa Rodrigues won the "Business" category, Paula C. Sociedade stood out in the "Health Sciences" and the "Community Service" award was taken by Paulo Pinto, at an event that took place in the North American city of Cambridge, in the state of Massachusetts.

The "Educational Institution" award was given to Discovery Language Academy, basketball player Neemias Queta won the "Athletic Achievement" category and former US ambassador to Portugal Robert A. Sherman and his wife, Kim Sawyer, were distinguished with the "International Prize".

Also at the 26th Palcus gala, Anthony 'Tony' Andrade was awarded the "Founders Award" and Leandra Furtado, global development strategist at 'Seed Global Health', an international non-profit organization that provides medical and nursing training in sub-Saharan Africa, was distinguished with the "Young Promise Luso-American Award".

The honorary chairmanship of the 2024 Gala was held by Massachusetts state senators Marc Pacheco and Michael Rodrigues.

According to the event's organisers, the winners are recognized "for their personal achievements, as well as for the honour they brought to the Portuguese-American community."

The annual gala "also brings together community leaders to share knowledge and important strategic ideas that will shape the PALCUS agenda in the coming years", explained, in a statement, PALCUS itself, the only organization that represents Portuguese and Portuguese descendants at a national level in the United States.

The celebrations, which began on Friday and continued on Saturday, included other events such as the Portuguese-Speaking Community Health Forum in the United States, the Lusitanian Forum on Portuguese Heritage, as well as a welcome reception.

The Lusitanian Forum serves, among others, to discuss the current state of the Portuguese community in the United States of America and the joint work that can be done to promote and protect the legacy of the Portuguese-American community and the heritage of Lusitanian cultural origins in the country.

The Health Forum aimed to bring together professionals from the medical and health sectors, as well as community members to "improve communication, understanding and education about health and lifestyle" of all Portuguese-speaking communities in the USA, indicated PALCUS.