The National Awards of Trinidad and Tobago consist of:
Holders of the various awards are allowed to use the postnominal letters O.R.T.T. (Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago), T.C. (Trinity Cross), C.M. (Chaconia Medal), H.B.M. (Hummingbird Medal) or M.O.M. (Medal of Merit).[1]
These awards were introduced following independence in 1962 to replace the Imperial royal honours available to citizens of the British Empire. They were approved in 1967 and first awarded in 1969.[2]
The cabinet accepted the decision made by the national awards designs Selection Committee, which selected the designs submitted by the following persons:
1. Ms Wilhelmina McDowell, who designed the Trinity Cross
2. Mrs A. Jardine, who designed the Chaconia Medal and
3. The designers of Messrs Y. DeLima and Co. Limited, who conceptualised the Hummingbird Medal.
4. Mr Ebenezer Edwards designed the Public Service Medal of Merit
Some of the winners who won medals in past years are listed below:[3][4]
On 17 April 2008 the Cabinet agreed that the name of the highest national award should be The Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, that the name of the Society to replace the Order of the Trinity should be The Distinguished Society of Trinidad and Tobago, that the highest national award should be re-designed so as to replace the Cross with a Medal and that the Letters Patent should be amended to give effect to those decisions.
Subsequently, in Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha of Trinidad and Tobago Inc & Ors v Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago [2009] UKPC 17 (28 April 2009) the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, on appeal from the Court of Appeal of Trinidad and Tobago, held that the creation of the Trinity Cross of the Order of the Trinity breached the constitutional rights of non-Christians to equality and to freedom of conscience and belief. However, the council also made a declaration that the judgment should not have retrospective effect: "nothing in this judgment should be taken to apply to any awards of this high honour that were made under the system that the Letters Patent established before the date of the.. judgment." (per Lord Hope of Craighead at para 42).