PO‘IPU — Despite efforts at keeping the Ho‘oulu Award recipient announcement “low key,” a lot of people came to Keoki’s Paradise restaurant in Po‘ipu Shopping Village to congratulate Michael DeMotta on the honor of being announced the 2023 recipient.
“This is just the second year we have announced a Ho‘oulu Award recipient for Kaua‘i,” said Mary Lou Foley, one of the organizers for the Friday, April 7, 2023 announcement. “The first recipient was Kumu Sabra Kauka, who is featured in a special Ho‘oulu Award section of Keoki’s Paradise.”
DeMotta, the National Tropical Botanical Garden curator of living collections, was named by Keoki’s Paradise as the recipient of the 2023 Ho‘oulu Award for his efforts to protect Kaua‘i’s ecosystem through research, propagation projects and community education.
In addition to the Keoki’s Paradise announcement, DeMotta also received a certificate of special congressional recognition from U.S. Sen. Mazie K. Hirono and a proclamation from Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to honor Mike DeMotta for his amazing work on Kaua‘i,” said Darin Tann, general manager of Keoki’s Paradise. “‘Aina plays such a huge role in the culture, lifestyle and beauty of Hawai‘i that it is important to recognize those like Mike who protect it while teaching and inspiring others to do the same.”
The Hawaiian word “ho‘oulu” means “to foster, maintain, perpetuate and inspire a tradition,” and Keoki’s Paradise established the Ho‘oulu Award to honor and recognize Kaua‘i residents who dedicate their energy to the perpetuation of Hawaiian culture and traditions. The award was developed as part of the restaurant’s efforts to honor those whose contributions, relating to environmental and cultural education, have uplifted and empowered the island community.
“I feel like graduation,” said DeMotta as he received a stack of lei from well-wishers who personally came to congratulate him on the honor, including Kumu Hula Kehaulani Kekua and several members of Halau Palaihiwa O Kaipuwai who offered ho‘okupu including a medley of oli on the significance of plants and plant life and the environment, adorned with plants that DeMotta had presented them with.
DeMotta is a longtime resident of Kaua‘i who started working at the National Tropical Botanical Garden in 1998 to fulfill his desire to learn more about native ecosystems and conservation in the context of Hawaiian culture. As curator for NTBG’s Living Collections, DeMotta conducts field research in native forests, creates collections and propagates seeds of rare plants.
A graduate of the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, DeMotta is fluent in the Hawaiian language and trained in hula and Hawaiian storytelling. He was a presenter at the 2021 International Union for Conservation of Nature World Conservation Congress in Marseille, France, and is recognized internationally for his knowledge of Hawaiian culture and biocultural diversity in native plants.
