After 2.75 million votes, Filipino Efren Peñaflorida bagged the 2009 CNN Hero of the Year Award, besting all the other top 9 CNN Heroes of the Year nominees.

The third annual “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute” was hosted by CNN’s Anderson Cooper. It was held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on Saturday night.

Aside from the honor, Peñaflorida also won $100,000 to continue his noble work with his Dynamic Teen Company, bringing education to poor children through his “pushcart classroom.”

Upon receiving the award, Peñaflorida said, “Each person has a hidden hero within, you just have to look inside you and search it in your heart, and be the hero to the next one in need.”

Watch the clip here.

The event had an audience of about 3,000. It will premiere on Thanksgiving, November 26, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the global networks of CNN.

Performances included Grammy Award-winning artist Carrie Underwood, Maxwell, and also Leona Lewis.