Ellen DeGeneres and Tim Gunn have been named PETA’s 2009 Woman of the Year and Man of the Year respectively. The dance-loving talk show host and the style guru were chosen because of their “exceptional effort to place animal rights issues before a large audience.”

According to the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, 51-year-old DeGeneres, who went vegan in 2008, has used her platform to highlight a cruelty-free lifestyle, including publicizing her vegan wedding to Portia de Rossi in 2008.

She also invited experts such as “Eating Animals” author Jonathan Safran Foer and vegan diet guru Dr. Neal Barnard to appear on her eponymous talk show.

Gunn, 56, had narrated the video “Fashion Victims” for PETA. He plugs designers who use animal-friendly fabrics. He also started a program that allows PETA to give presentations to students during his time as chair of the fashion design department at Parsons.