Hawai'i Department of Education Superintendent Pat Hamamoto and Polynesian Voyaging Society President Nainoa Thompson will present the awards at 6:45 p.m. at Paki Hale, 3840 Paki Ave. Recipients include: Bhuwan Giri of Thimpu, Bhutan; Jalnidh Kaur, Ludhiana, India; Rosemary Owen, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; and Mikia Weidenbach, Waialua.

As part of the Hokule'a Education Program, the Asia Pacific Leadership Program (APLP) of the East-West Center established the inaugural VALUES FOR LIFE International Essay Contest in partnership with the Nisei Veterans Endowed Forum Series of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, University of Hawai'i at Manoa.

Students ages 14 to 18 from more than seven countries submitted essays. The four contest winners were recently announced on the Hokule'a Education Program Web site,

where copies of their essays can be found.

The winning students were invited to attend the Pacific Educational Conference, which is under way this week at McKinley High School. They will read their essays during a conference event set for 8:15 a.m to 9:45 a.m. Thursday.

The voyaging canoe Hokule'a returned to Hawai'i July 1, after its five-month voyage from Hawai'i through Micronesia and through the islands of Japan.

Thompson has estimated the voyage, which was 149 days at sea, covered 8,100 nautical miles.

Hokule'a left O'ahu Jan. 13 to join the Alingano Maisu at Kawaihae on the Big Island, where it was built. The two canoes sailed past Johnston Atoll and into Micronesia, and then on to Japan.

The key goal of the voyage to Micronesia and Japan was the delivery of the voyaging canoe Alingano Maisu as a gift of thanks to Mau Piailug on the island of Satawal. Piailug was the Micronesian navigator who taught non-instrument navigation to Hawaiian sailors, helping revive Hawaiian canoe voyaging centuries after such voyages had stopped. Piailug was the navigator on the voyage to Tahiti that was captained by Kapahulehua.

Alingano Maisu was built by the Big Island voyaging group Na Kalai Wa'a Moku o Hawai'i, with the help of voyaging societies throughout the state. The canoe is now home-ported at Yap island, under the command of Piailug's son.