At a press briefing held today at the President’s Office the National Award of Honour and Special Achievement Award by the President has been opened for nominations. Detail information on the award guidelines were given to the press by Mr. Abdul Rasheed Hussain, Chairman of the National Awards Committee and Dr. Mohamed Shainee, Chairman of the National Awards Technical Committee.
Similar to the last year’s National Awards, special importance will be given to categories created for women and youth in this year’s National Awards as well. This is done to coincide with the Government’s manifesto to encourage the empowerment of these groups and to further provide the chance for more skilled individuals in different sectors of the country to be able to win the National Awards. In these categories, Awards will be presented to youths aged between 18 to 35 years and women who have done exceptional work for 5 to 7 years. Revisions have also been brought to other areas pertaining to this year’s awards, based on the feedback of various government ministries and independent institutions.
Similar to previous years, Government offices, independent institutions, companies, associations, and individuals can propose nominations for the Awards through appropriate government agencies, and by submitting the designated nomination forms.
Presidents’ National Award for Special Achievement will be presented to 5 categories this year.
The areas for this year’s award are as follows:
1. Achieving an outstanding accomplishment in attaining the highest academic qualification (P.H.D) in the Maldives National Qualifications Framework
2. Achieving the highest rank in an academic or skill training course
3. Achieving the highest rank in an international exhibition or competition
4. Achieving a recognizable accomplishment in resolving or tackling a challenge faced by The Maldives through innovativeness or an educational research.
5. Achieving outstanding performance of a skill or innovation, to a standard recognized by the Government. The areas for this year’s award for this category are as follows:
a) Islamic Educational Story Writing for children and adolescents — to be conducted by Ministry of Islamic Affairs
b) Children’s novel writing competition in Dhivehi — to be conducted by the Dhivehi Linguistic Academy
c) Coconut Shell Products Design — to be conducted by Ministry of Economic Development
d) Visual Arts and Performing Arts competition showcasing a performance based on a Maldivian traditional story or folklore without losing the original touch of the narrative — to be conducted by National Center for Arts.
Above mentioned competitions are opened for participation by the appropriate government agencies.
The nominations for the National Award for Special Achievement have to be submitted through a specific nomination form.
The National Awards Technical Committee and National Awards Technical Committee are to conduct informational programs regarding the National Awards and Special Achievement Awards for the Maldivian press. Details of these Awards have also been published in the Government Gazette, and a directive in this regard has been issued by the President’s Office.
The nomination forms for the National Award of Honour and Special Achievement Award are available from the President’s Office during official work hours, and can be downloaded from www.presidencymaldives.gov.mv. The deadline for submitting the completed nominations forms is 15th August 2016, and should be addressed to the respective Committee.
Recipients of this year’s National Award for Special Achievement will be honoured at the official function to be held to mark the Republic Day.