Nominations for Special Achievement Awards to close on Thursday

The nominations for the 'President's National Award for Special Achievement’ are to close by week’s end.

The Special Awards Committee on Monday announced that the application window for the 'President's National Award for Special Achievement’ will be closing on Thursday.

The committee earlier announced that they began accepting nominations through the designated portal on April 16.

The deadline for nominations is set at 3pm, June 1.

The committee highlighted that those interested can acquire nomination forms through the designated portal "Form Hushahelhun" on the President's Office website.

The criteria for the awards have been publicized in the government gazette as well.

The committee has urged interested individuals to carefully observe the requirements outlined in the gazette, which specifies that nominations for the awards must be accompanied by the respective form for each award category.

Individuals holding qualification certificates between Maldives Qualification Authority (MQA) levels 7 and 9 who have secured first place in their respective programmes, must include supporting documentation or certificates from the relevant educational institutions confirming the first-place achievement in their submission.

Further, the official transcripts containing the grade point should also be provided and in the case of programmes completed at foreign higher education institutions, copies of MQA-approved certificates are required as part of the application process.

The 'President's National Award for Special Achievement’ will be conferred to individuals who have performed exceptionally well and made substantial contributions to national progress.

Just like previous years, the award will be conferred in four categories this year as well.

Individuals who have performed exceptionally well in the field of higher education and training are eligible for the first category. Nominees are required to have a certificate equal to Maldives Qualification Authority (MQA) ranking level 10 with an exceptional result and individuals acquiring certification equivalent to MQA ranking levels 7, 8, 9 and having achieved the highest rank in their course at their higher education institution to be eligible for the first category.

The second category is for those who excelled in an international competition or exhibition.

Individuals who have created innovative and effective solutions to persistent national issues through research are eligible for the awards under the third category.

The fourth category is for those who showed exceptional creativity and innovation in their field and have had a positive impact on the national progress. Individuals must be between 18 and 35 years of age to be eligible for this category.

In 2022 a fifth category was introduced by the government to coincide with the 50th-anniversary celebrations of tourism in the Maldives. The category recognized the outstanding, creative and innovative contributions of tourism sector stakeholders and staff towards developing the industry and the nation.