157 get national honours and awards

One hundred and fifty-seven Jamaicans are today being presented with national honours and awards, for their outstanding contribution to national development through service in various fields.

This year’s awards ceremony, on the Lawns of King’s House in St Andrew, takes on greater significance, as the country celebrates its 50th year of political independence.

The recipients of this year’s honours have been selected from a wide field, including, the judiciary, medicine, religion, sports and the arts.

Among the honourees is reggae music legend, Winston Hubert 'Peter Tosh' McIntosh, who has posthumously been entered into the Order of Merit, in recognition of his seminal contribution to the evolution of popular music.

Former president of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA), Howard Aris, will also be posthumously awarded with the nation's fourth-highest honour, the Order of Jamaica.

Aris died in November last year while attending a People’s National Party rally in Portland.

He was president of the JAAA and is credited with being instrumental in the most successful period of Jamaica athletics, the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the 2009 World Championships.

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