Islands Society: Five Given Annual Awards for Respecting, Inspiring & Empowering Islanders

HONOLULU - March 5, 2016 - PRLog -- The Islands Society is pleased to announce its official recognition of four individuals and one organization for their efforts to inspire and empower islanders around the world to participate in foreign affairs. The 2015 recipients of our annual service awards include Pacific Forum CSIS, Keiko Ono, Lora Violeti, Ralph Cossa, and Abe Denmark.

Ohana Award

The Ohana Award is an annual award that recognizes those organizations whose support has made the biggest impact on the professional development of our staff. This year, the Islands Society recognizes Pacific Forum CSIS for supporting the professional development of four of our staff through their leadership programs for young professionals in foreign policy, including the Young Leaders Program, WSD-Handa Fellowship, Kakehashi Project, and Sasakawa Peace Foundation Fellowship.

Tomodachi Award

The Tomodachi Award is an annual award that recognizes the staff member who most exceeded the requirements established for their position. This year, the Islands Society recognizes Keiko Ono for her outstanding contributions as the Managing Director of the Pacific Islands Society.

Alakaʻina Award

The Alakaʻina Award is an annual award that recognizes the fellow or program participant whose work most exhibits our core values of respect, inclusion, empowerment, knowledge, community, culture, and inspiration. This year, the Islands Society recognizes Lora Violeti for her thought leadership on climate change and public health as a Pacific Security Scholar.

Kokua Award

The Kokua Award is an annual award that recognizes those individuals whose mentorship has made the biggest impact on our staff, fellows, and/or program participants. This year, the Islands Society recognizes Ralph Cossa for not only supporting our efforts but also for serving as a professional role model for our leadership team.

Wawasan Award

The Wawasan Award is an annual award that recognizes a member of one of our advisory boards whose efforts most enabled our organization to grow and succeed. This year, the Islands Society recognizes Abe Denmark who supported our leadership team's efforts to provide staff with opportunities to publish articles and commentary in influential foreign policy publications.


About Islands Society

The Islands Society is an international 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Its mission is to inspire and empower islanders to participate in foreign affairs and overseas engagements in order to affect positive change in their local communities. The nonprofit develops and implements projects that are designed to help islanders realize their full potential on the world stage. These projects are currently organized around two main themes: community projects and next generation leaders. The community projects center on ten issue areas, including charity, conservation, democracy, disaster relief, education, equality, health, innovation, security, and sustainability. Meanwhile, the next generation leader projects support artists, athletes, chefs, incubators, musicians, policy makers, storytellers, and technologists. To implement these programs, the nonprofit has launched local constituent societies around the world. These include the Pacific Islands Society, Baltic Islands Society (Honolulu, Hawaii), Sea Islands Society (Charleston, South Carolina), Caribbean Islands Society (Miami, Florida), Remote Islands Society (Tokyo, Japan), and Southeast Asian Islands Society (Washington, DC).

More Information:

Website: http://islandssociety.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/islandssociety/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/islandssociety

2015 Annual Awards: http://islandssociety.org/news/awards/