Meet this year’s honourees
PHILANTHROPIST AND international superstar Harold George Bellanfanti Jr, better known as Harry Belafonte, will add membership in the Order of Merit to his list of prestigious awards as the sole new entrant at this year’s National Honours and Awards ceremony.
Bellanfanti Jr will be honoured for his outstanding contribution in the field of music and will be among 130 individuals who will receive national honours and awards at King’s House today, National Heroes Day.
Tourism stalwart Godfrey Dyer will receive membership in the Order of Jamaica. So, too, will Earl Jarrett for exceptional contribution to the banking and financial sector, public service, and volunteerism; Grace Jones for her contribution in entertainment, internationally; and Giuseppe Maffessanti for his contribution to the construction industry, social development and welfare, and philanthropy.
Olympian Alia Atkinson, trade unionist Senator Kavan Gayle, Montego Bay Mayor Homer Davis, businessmen Stephen Facey, Eric Hosin and Robert MacMillan will join communications expert Jean Lowrie-Chin, entrepreneur Diana Sherry Stewart and United States Congresswoman Yvette Clarke in receiving the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander.
Those who will join the Order of Distinction in the Rank of Officer include Barbara BlakeHannah, Winston ‘Yellowman’ Foster, Dermot Hussey, Joan Andrea Hutchinson, Peter Jervis, Grace McLean, Raymond Spencer, and the Reverend Rennard White.