National Award of Recognition for Performing Arts

The National Award of Recognition for Performing Arts is one of the categories in the National Award of Recognition presented annually by the President of the Maldives to acknowledge, encourage and honor the outstanding contribution of individuals in film production, direction, acting, singing and music composition. The National Award is the most prestigious award given in Maldives. Established in 1979, National Award was given in major two categories; National Award of Honor and National Award of Recognition, which is further categorized based on the honored fields.

National Award of Recognition for Performing Arts
Awarded for	Outstanding contribution to the field Performing Arts
First award	1980
Final award	2022
Most recent winner	Detune Band
Highlights
Total awarded	74
First winner	Ibrahim Ahmed

The first recipient of the award was music composer Ibrahim Ahmed, who has been noted as the local "backbone" for modernizing the old-fashioned music into the latest trend.^[1] Among the awardees, singer Fareedha Mohamed is the only posthumous recipient.^[2] Actor Chilhiya Moosa Manik, actor Kopee Mohamed Rasheed, Kashima Ahmed Shakir and director Fathimath Nahula have been honored with National Award of Recognition in other fields too.

Recipients

List of award recipients by year

Year (Ceremony)	Image	Recipient	Island	Field	Ref(s)
1980 (2nd)		Ibrahim Ahmed	Male'	Music composition	[1]
1981 (3rd)		Abdul Fattah Yoosuf	Male'	Music composition	[3]
		Abdulla Hassan	Male'	Singing	[4]
1982 (4th)		Mohamed Habeeb	Male'	Music composition	[5]
		Mariyam Ahmed Didi	GDh. Thinadhoo	Singing	[6]
		Fareedha Mohamed[a]	HA. Hoarafushi	Singing	[2]
1983 (5th)		Ibrahim Hamdhy	Male'	Singing	[7]
		Fathimath Rauf	Male'	Singing	[8]
		Chilhiya Moosa Manik	Male'	Theatre performance	[9]
1984 (6th)		Naifaru Dhohokko	Male'	Singing	[10]
		Abdul Hannan Moosa Didi	Male'	Singing	[11]
		Kopee Mohamed Rasheed	Male'	Theatre performance	[12]
1985 (7th)		Kashima Ahmed Shakir	Male'	Theatre Performance	[13]
1986 (8th)		Mohamed Rashad	Male'	Singing	[14]
1987 (9th)		Fibo Ahmed Manik	Male'	Theatre performance	[15]
		Mohamed Khaleel	Male'	Singing	[16]
1988 (10th)		Mahmoodha Shakeeb	Male'	Singing	[17]
		Mariyam Rasheedha	S. Maradhoo	Theatre performance	[18]
1989 (11th)		Yoosuf Rafeeu	Male'	Acting	[19]
1990 (12th)		Ahmed Nashid	Male'	Music composition	[20]
1991 (13th)		Ahmed Nimal	Male'	Theatre performance	[21]
1992 (14th)		Hassan Yoosuf	Male'	Music composition	[22]
		Mohamed Zahid	Male'	Music composition	[23]
		Ibrahim Naseer	Male'	Music composition	[24]
		Ibrahim Shakeeb	Male'	Singing	[25]
		Shafeeqa Abdul Latheef	Male'	Singing	[26]
		Fathimath Rameeza	Male'	Theatre performance	[27]
1993 (15th)		Mohamed Rasheed	Male'	Music composition	[28]
		Shammoon Hameed	Male'	Music composition	[29]
		Hassan Mohamed	Holhudhoo	Singing	[30]
1994 (16th)	No Award
1995 (17th)		Aishath Inaya	Male'	Singing	[31]
		Umar Zahir	Male'	Singing	[32]
1996 (18th)		Sofa Thaufeeq	Male'	Singing	[33]
1997 (19th)		Reeko Moosa Manik	Male'	Acting	[34]
1998 (20th)		Dhon Annaaru Rasheed	Male'	Film production	[35]
		Fazeela Amir	Male'	Singing	[36]
1999 (21st)	No Award
2000 (22nd)		Ahmed Amir	Male'	Music composition	[37]
		Shifa Thaufeeq	Male'	Singing	[38]
		Hussain Rasheed	Male'	Film production	[39]
2001 (23rd)		Aishath Shiranee	Male'	Acting	[40]
		Fathimath Zoona	Male'	Singing	[41]
2002 (24th)		Mukhthar Adam	GA. Dhaandhoo	Singing	[42]
2003 (25th)		Ali Abdul Kareem	Male'	Music composition	[43]
		Yoosuf Shafeeu	Male'	Acting	[44]
2004 (26th)		Masodi Hassan Khaleel	Male'	Singing	[45]
		Jamsheedha Ahmed	Gn. Fuvahmulah	Acting	[46]
		Abdul Faththaah	Kelaa	Film direction	[47]
2005 (27th)		Abdul Baaree	B. Fulhadhoo	Singing	[48]
		Mohamed Rasheed	Male'	Acting	[49]
		Ahmed Amir	Dh. Maaenboodhoo	Film production and direction	[50]
		Mohamed Ikram	Male'	Music composition	[51]
2006 (28th)		Ahmed Faseeh	Male'	Music composition	[52]
		Mohamed Shuheil	Male'	Singing	[53]
		Mohamed Munthasir	Male'	Dramatics and choreography	[54]
		Amjad Ibrahim	Male'	Film direction	[55]
2007 (29th)		Abdul Sameeu Abdul Gafoor	Male'	Singing	[56]
		Shaaz Saeed	Lh. Naifaru	Music composition	[57]
		Sheela Najeeb	Male'	Acting	[58]
2008	No Ceremony
2009 (30th)		Fathimath Nahula	Male'	Film production and direction	[59]
2010 (31st)		Mohamed Majid	Male'	Singing and music composition	[60]
		Mohamed Niyaz	Male'	Film and song direction and production	[61]
2011 (32nd)		Rafiyath Rameeza	Male'	Singing	[62]
		Niuma Mohamed	GDh. Vaadhoo	Acting	[63]
2012 (33rd)		Roanu Hassan Manik	K. Villingili	Acting and theatre performance	[64]
		Hussain Ali	F. Nilandhoo	Singing	[65]
2013 (34th)		Hussain Sobah	Male'	Music composition	[66]
2014 (35th)		Ahmed Athif	Male'	Singing	[67]
2015 (36th)	No Award
2016 (37th)		Mariyam Unoosha	Male'	Singing	[68]
2017 (38th)		Mohamed Abdul Ghanee	Lh. Naifaru	Singing	[69]
		Ibrahim Rasheed	Male'	Acting and script writing	[70]
2018 (39th)		Ali Shifau	Male'	Film direction	[71]
		Ibrahim Zaid Ali	GDh. Thinadhoo	Singing and music composition	[72]
2019 (40th)		Abdul Rasheed Ali	Male'	Singing	[73]
2020 (41st)	No Award
2021 (42nd)	No Award
2022 (43rd)		Detune Band	—	Singing	[74]
2023 (44th)	No Award
2024 (45th)	No Award

Explanatory notes

1. She was posthumously awarded for the year 1982.