Caitlyn Jenner honored at Glamour Awards

NEW YORK -- Caitlyn Jenner, one of the most talked-about women in the world, was honored as one of Glamour magazine's Women of the Year on Monday along with fellow honorees such as actress Reese Witherspoon, dancer Misty Copeland and designer Victoria Beckham.

The annual ceremony at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan mixed high-wattage celebrities with lesser-known names, and this year, the award winners included five women touched by the South Carolina church massacre -- Alana Simmons, Nadine Collier, Bethane Middleton-Brown, Felicia Sanders and Polly Sheppard -- and lauded in the aftermath as "The Peacemakers of Charleston." Also honored: Entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes, Planned Parenthoood's Cecile Richards and the victorious U.S. women's soccer team.

Jenner is not the first transgender woman to be a Glamour Woman of the Year; actress Laverne Cox was honored last year. Still, Jenner's inclusion sparked some backlash on social media.

"We prefer to focus on the positive," Jenner said through a spokesman.

Cindi Leive, Glamour's editor-in-chief, said criticism of Jenner's inclusion "certainly gives you an appreciation for the hostility to the trans community that still exists out there."

Among the achievements of some of this year's honorees:

Witherspoon co-founded a production company, Pacific Standard, which aims to make films featuring strong woman lead roles as way to fight the gender gap in Hollywood. The company's "Wild" and "Gone Girl" earned Oscar nominations for Witherspoon, Laura Dern and Rosamund Pike.

Copeland became the first female African-American principal at American Ballet Theatre in June.

Jenner, a former Olympic hero and Kardashian-Jenner family reality star, came out as a trans woman earlier this year. Her docu-series, "I Am Cait," was picked up by E! for a second season.

Beckham gained fame as a Spice Girl, but since has become a respected fashion designer.

The U.S. women's soccer team handily defeated Japan to win the 2015 World Cup in July, and recently was welcomed at the White House by President Barack Obama.