The Investiture Ceremony of conferring National Honours on distinguished personalities, who rendered a noble service to the country and its advancement, will be held on the 20th of March 2017 at 6.00pm at the Nelum Pokuna Theater, under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena.

These awards are bestowed on the most distinguished persons who have made outstanding contributions to the country and its advancement.

At this ceremony which will be held after 12 years, the President will present national honours to 90 persons lauding their individual contributions in many spheres, stated the Secretary to the President P. B. Abeykoon.

The honours; Deshamanya (Titular),Sri Lankabhimanya (Titular), Deshabandu (Titular), Vidyajothi (Titular), Kala Keerthi (Titular), Sri Lanka Sikhamani (Titular), Vidya Nidhi (Titular), Kala Suri (Titular), Sri Lanka Thilaka (Non-titular), Veera Prathapa (Non- titular), will be bestowed at this ceremony.

National honours Sri Lanka Ranjana (Titular); the second highest honour awarded to non-nationals for distinguished service of a highly meritorious nature to Sri Lanka in particular and/ or humanity in general will also be presented at this ceremony.

According to the act of the National Honours – 1986, the awardees of these national honours are selected out of the nominations presented by individuals and public organizations. The nominations are also inspected by an intellectual panel. Ninety persons were selected out of 426 applications forwarded for this year’s award ceremony.

The Senior Additional Secretary to the President Rohana Keerthi Dissanayake said that various organizations are offering various awards related to the name of national honours they have no official recognition. He said only the awards presented by the President will be recognized as national awards.