Welcome to 2023 Stars of Oceania Awards
Donate to support the following candidates nominated for the Awards
This special event brings together like-minded individuals, organizations, and leaders.
Click Here To Donate Read More About 2023 Stars of Oceanias AwardsNominated Candidates
Prospective Awardees
2023 Global Moana Climate and Environmental Impact Award
Leilani Lilomaiava Doktor - United States
Leilani is an Attorney at the United States Department of the Interior-Insular Affairs. Her practice focuses on litigation of natural resource use, public lands management, and climate change.
2023 Global Moana Climate and Environmental Impact Award
Dr. Nicole Yamase - Chuuk & Pohnpei, Micronesia
Dr. Nicole Yamase, marine botanist is the first Pacific Islander, second-youngest person, at 29 years old, the fourth woman, and only the 20th person ever to descend to the Challenger Deep in the deepest known part of the Mariana Trench within the territorial waters of the Federated States of Micronesia.
2023 Global Moana Climate and Environmental Impact Award
Dr. Teina Rongo - Rarotonga-Cook Islands
Dr. Rongo is the Chairperson for the environmental NGO, Kōrero o te ʻŌrau, based in Rarotonga. He was the first Cook Islander to achieve a Ph.D. in Marine Biology from the Florida Institute of Technology. His research about coral reef ecology, ciguatera poisoning, and climate change has been published in Micronesia, the Caribbean, across the Central Pacific and throughout the Cook Islands.
2023 Global Moana Arts, Literature and Media Award
David Eggleton - New Zealand/Aotearoa
David is a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in poetry, New Zealand Poet Laureate, Robert Burns Fellowship, London Time Out’s Street Poet of the Year, and Janet Frame Literary Trust Award for Poetry. David is also an art critic who writes extensively about Pacific art and music.
2023 Global Moana Enterprise and Development Award
Murray Clay - Hawaiʻi
Murray is President, Ulupono Initiative in Honolulu where he oversees and manages all aspects of renewable energy projects in Hawai`i that are models of balance and mutual benefit for the planet and humanity. He weaves capital investments with social outreach that conveys indigenous wisdom and modern science to inspire catalytic change for Hawaiʻi.
2023 Global Moana Ulu Culinary, Food Processing and Manufacturing Awards
Dr. Richard Beyer - Great Britain/Fiji
Dr. Beyer is a prominent food technologist in the Pacific and is considered a world leader in food preservation. He is the author of over 15 commissioned reports relating to income generation and food security for the Pacific region.
2023 Global Moana Humanitarian, Disaster Preparedness, Resilient & Design Award
Illya Azaroff - United States
This noted COP28 Delegate, AIA National Board Member-at-Large, and Professor at New York City College of Technology is also a founding Partner at +LAB Architect PLLC where he engages in transformative work within various communities from New York City to Dominica and Hawai`i. He is also a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and has designed the first-ever resiliency hub in the Pacific, located in Hauʻula, Oahu.
2023 Global Moana Health and Medical Services Award
Lt. Colonel Kinsey McFadden (Ret.) - Hawaiʻi
Lt. Colonel McFadden is a retired Medical Service Army Lieutenant Colonel with 37 years of combined service in the United States Army and Air Force with more than 20 years in executive level management. He is highly skilled in disaster management, emergency operations and procedures, and has. Served in numerous international positions throughout Africa and the Pacific.
2023 Global Moana Education Leadership Awards
Dr. Koh Ming Wei - Hawaiʻi
Dr. Ming Wei is a researcher, educational consultant, curriculum developer, māmaki farmer, and distiller as well as an “intellectual farmer” who has insatiable curiosity. Her research includes how the school learning garden experience can be used to teach core subjects, STEM, and foundational life skills, and she has created the Pedagogy of Food to frame the kind of education she believes in and shares.
2023 Global Moana Youth Organization Award
Kainoa Bronson Azama - Hawaiʻi
Kainoa Bronson Azama, Hawaii. UH student, student body president, environmental advocate of engaging, preserving and protecting as family and media technical expert for documentation and advocacy for the Moana guided by the weave of traditional wisdom and spirituality with modern science and technology.
2023 Global Moana Cultural Sustainability, Practice & Leadership Award
Mitaera Ngatae Teatuakaro Michael Tavioni - Cook Islands
This highly revered recipient of the British Empire Medal for services to the arts is considered “Taonga” (a treasured possession). His craft includes printing, painting, woodwork, stonework, bone carving, and traditional tattooing. He is a master canoe carver with influence that resonates across the Pacific, stretching from New Zealand to Hawai`i.
2023 Global Moana Government Service and Leadership Awards
Ambassador Frankie Annette Reed (Ret.) ⎯ Hawaiʻi
Ambassador Frankie Annette Reed (Ret.) is a career member of the U.S. Foreign Service. She is currently serving as the first-ever U.S. Envoy to the Pacific Islands Forum. Her varied overseas assignments have taken her around the world. She recently returned from an assignment as Consul General in Melbourne, Australia, preceded by three years as Ambassador to Fiji. Ambassador Reed began her Foreign Service career in Yaounde, Cameroon, followed by tours in Nairobi, Kenya, and Senegal.
2023 Global Moana Agriculture and Community-Based Development Award
Kuʻuleinani Maunupau - Hawaiʻi
Director of Sustainable Planning at KAʻEHU, a nonprofit organization that manages a 64-acres of coastal wetlands whose work includes long-term resiliency, strategic Planning and natural resource management while coordinating with youth and community programs that perpetuate Hawaiian culture and Ahupuaʻa traditional farming and fishing practices of regeneration with aloha.
2023 Global Moana Agriculture and Community-Based Development Award
Karen Mapusua - Suva
Karen is the first woman Director of the Land Resources Division of the Pacific Community based in Suva. The Land Resources Division provides technical and scientific support to 22 Pacific countries and territories on all aspects of agriculture and forestry from genetic resources to markets.
2023 Papahanaumoku Global Award - Recognizing Natural Kin, Ancestral Spirits, and Mana Aloha o Representing the spirit of aloha and healing mana of the Redwood
Victor Bjelajac - Redwood Tree, Whale Carved From 2,000 Redwood
Represented by Victor Bjelajic, Superintendent of the California State Parks North Coast Redwoods District since 2007. His collaborative work with resources, people and programs began in 2008 and includes work with local tribes, federal, state and local agencies as well as non-profit organizations.
2023 Papahanaumoku Global Moana Award Recognizing Natural Kin, Ancestral Spirits, Mana Aloha And Healing Award
Dune Lankard - Yellow Cedar Tree ⎯ 10th Log
Represented by Dune Lankard, Native Eyak of the Eagle Clan whose homeland for the last 3,500 years is located located within the Chugach National Forest range on thecoast of Prince William Sound in Cordova, Alaska. He was named “Hero of the Planet” by Time Magazine in 1998 and graced the cover of as one of the “50 Heroes of the World.”
2023 Global Moana Health & Medical Service Award
Dr Wayne Wells, MD - United States
Dr. Wells (CHCQM-PHYSADV, CM) has been leading the global health responses to major pandemic outbreaks globally in support of indigenous populations that are underserved throughout Africa, the Asia-Pacific Islands and the United States. In 2019 he conducted a free Health Fair Clinic in the village of Lefaga, Samoa, and provided critical “One Health” training in West Africa supporting the Post Ebola preparedness and response strategy planning to over 15 countries.
2023 Global Moana Media & Technology Award
Julie Stowell - Hawaiʻi
As President of Lomikai Media, her company provides media, film, podcasting, and broadcasting services for several partner organizations; including but not limited to NCAR Rising Voices, PRiMO Pacific Risk Management Ohana, University of Hawai`i National Disaster Preparedness Training Center.
2023 Global Moana Media & Technology Award
Chris Shaeffer - Hawaiʻi
As Technical Director for Lomikai Media and the Olohana Foundation, Chris is focused on supporting young storytellers who learn and practice the art and science of telling the stories that they feel are important.
2023 Global Moana Media & Technology Award
Arthur C. Anthony, CAPT (Ret.) - United States
As owner of Clearwaters.IT, a service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses firm, Captain Anthony solves integration issues and helps customers obtain maximum value from their enterprise information systems investments. His business provides Network security for the US Air Force Medical sites in Hawaii and Alaska.
2023 Global Moana Media & Technology Award
Philippe Lemonnier - Tahiti
Philippe is the founder and CEO of Pacific Ventury Corporation, a Tahiti-based company dedicated to helping individuals and organisations better understand the world, humanity and tomorrow. He also presently serves as a Senior Leadership Education and Development Specialist for the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi.
2023 Global Moana Agriculture and Community-Based Development Award
Joanico Ximenes - Timor-Leste
As President of the Asosiasaun Nasional Produtor Fini Komersial (ANAPROFIKO), Joanico leadership has resulted in the organization being officially registered in 2015 under the Timor-Leste Ministry of Justice. ANAPROFIKO is a vital conduit for advocating the interests of commercial seed producers while expanding the commercial seed trade. Joanico's strategic guidance has led ANAPROFIKO to cultivate a robust partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Under his leadership the organization has facilitated the reduction of seed imports, steering the nation toward self-reliance in commercial seeds for major food crops.
2023 Global Moana Agriculture and Community-Based Development Award
Emihner Johnson - Federated States of Micronesia
This dedicated leader is at the helm of the Island Food Community of Pohnpei, a local nonprofit organization that was awarded the Healthy Islands Recognition Best Practice by the World Health Organization in 2013. Emihner has been committed to fostering a healthier diet for Pohnpei using local foods that historically shielded islanders against nutritional challenges of disease.
2023 Global Moana Cultural Sustainability, Practice & Leadership Award
Dr. Aaron Salā ⎯ Hawaiʻi/American Samoa
As Festival Director for the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture event that will take place in 2024, he is also the Founder and CEO of Gravitas Pasifika, a boutique firm intent on harnessing the power of creative storytelling to advance Native Hawaiian and Pasifika worldviews through the exploration and integration of creativity in production. He is also founder of The Native Imaginative, a nonprofit committed to the elevating Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities.
2023 Papahanaumoku Global Moana Award Recognizing Natural Kin, Ancestral Spirits, Mana Aloha And Healing
His Excellency Afioga Afamasaga Fa'amatala Toleafoa - Maʻafala Ulu, Tree of Samoa
Represented by His Excellency Afioga Afamasaga Fa'amatala Toleafoa, Samoan High Commissioner to New Zealand. He is founding chairman of the Samoa Farmer Organization and of the Pacific Islands Farmers Organization Network.
Papahanaumoku Global Moana Award Recognizing Natural Kin, Ancestral Spirits, Mana Aloha And Healing
Barbara Rose Eden - Indigenous Health and Spirituality
Represented by Barbara Rose Eden, holistic and integrative health practitioner of Energy Medicine with a Masters in Intuition Medicine. With 26 years of study in Eastern and Western modalities, Barbaraʻs greatest passion is supporting communities and individuals with a return to health of mind and body through intuitive intelligence and indigenous nature-based technologies.
2023 Global Moana Youth Leadership & Organization Award
Ananda Rose Lankard ⎯ Eyak Tribe of Alaska
Guided by elders, Ananda filed her first lawsuit against the federal government over climate change when she was one year old. She is the daughter of Dune Lankard, and a promising young dog team musher who gained attention with 16 Alaska youths who courageously took a stand against climate change impact. In 2017 they filed a lawsuit against the State of Alaska, arguing that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions were endangering their health and violating their constitutional rights.
2023 Global Moana Youth Leadership & Organization Award
Bronson Kainoa Azama ⎯ Hawaiʻi
Bronson is anʻōpio and Aloha ʻĀina advocate. He is President of the Jr. Koʻolaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club, Chair of the Honolulu Youth Commission, member of the international youth group “Heirs 2 Our Oceans,” and former State President of Hawaiʻi Future Farmers of America Association. He hopes to inspire others to live a life that benefits Nā mamo ā pau loa.
2023 Global Moana Youth Leadership & Organization Award
Kawaiola Burros ⎯ Hawaiʻi
Kawaiola is an 18-year-old high school student in Hawaiʻi who is active in youth culture, indigenous media, and a Moana Aloha advocate. An aspiring artist, storyteller and filmmaker, he has chosen to navigate injustices with Aloha. He focuses on navigating the best course forward in community. He says, “The past should always have a voice, but never a vote.”
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Welcome to Stars of Oceania
The 2023 Stars of Oceania Award is a highly anticipated ceremony that honors individuals who have dedicated their lives to healing the planet and its people throughout the Pacific Islands and beyond.
August 21, 2023
Join us at Cooks Island from 5:00pm to 9:00pm (WST Time)
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