In the year that saw many beautiful contestants from the Bb. Pilipinas, Mutya ng Pilipinas and Miss Philippines-Earth, Darlene Carbungco, the reigning Mutya ng Pilipinas 2001 and Miss Asia-Pacific 4th runner-up, easily romped away with the poll voting for the MOST PHOTOGENIC FACE OF THE YEAR AWARD with more than half of the votes casted. She got 41 votes (63%) followed by Imee Su Martinez in second place with 9 votes (14%), tied for third place are Joan Marie Dimaliuat and Precious Lara Quigaman with 6 votes each (9%) and in last place is Anjelly Gamboa with 3 votes (5%). A total of 65 votes where casted and Darlene proves to be the most photogenic among all the contestants from the three local pageants.

In what seems to be a tight voting for the MOST BEAUTIFUL HAIR OF THE YEAR AWARD, Darlene won the award with 11 (30%) votes out of 37 votes. In second place is Jenie Manuel with 9 (24%) votes, third is Imee Su Martinez with 8 (22%) votes, fourth is Precious Lara Quigaman with 5 (14%) votes and in last place is Anjelly Gamboa with 4 (11%) votes.

Darlene made it again for winning another award which is the MOST TANTALIZING EYES OF THE YEAR. She got 6 (40%) votes out of the total 15 votes casted, in second place is Imee Su Martinez with 4 (27%) votes. Tied for third place are Andrea del Rosario and Maricar Balagtas with 2 (13%) votes each, while in last place is Joan Marie Dimaliuat who got 1 (7%) vote for the award.

Darlene easily won the judges nod during the coronation night of the Mutya ng Pilipinas 2001. Aside from garnering the Mutya top plum, she also received a special award for 'Best in Swimsuit', which surprised her considering that she was among chubbiest contestants that time. On the first week of November she competed for the Miss Asia Pacific 2001, luckily chosen as one of the ten semi-finalists and made her way to the top five finalists and eventually bagging the 4th runner-up position for the said contest.
She also won a special award as 'Miss Close-up Smile'.