The first annual Lowell F Hawthorne Awards Ceremony will be presented live as a virtual streaming event on Thursday, January 19 beginning at 7pm.

Hosted by The Lowell F Hawthorne Foundation of New York under its theme Thinking Positively and Moving Forward, the event will serve as the major annual fundraiser for the foundation, which was created in 2018 as a charitable organisation to provide endowments to educational institutions affiliated with the late Lowell Hawthorne.

The purpose of the endowments is to facilitate the provision of academic assistance to exemplary minority students studying business development or entrepreneurship in both the USA and Jamaica.

The foundation was created in honor of the late Lowell F Hawthorne, Co-founder and President/CEO of Golden Krust Caribbean Restaurant, the world’s largest Caribbean franchisor and manufacturer of Jamaican style patties for nearly 30 years.

During this time, the Golden Krust brand also became renowned for its popular Caribbean Cuisine. Under Hawthorne’s leadership, the brand captured the attention of major media players resulting in features on Fox 5 News, ABC-TV, New York 1, CNN as well as in publications such as Forbes Magazine, The New York Times, New York Daily News, Emerge, Black Enterprise Magazine and many more.

However, according to Hawthorne’s widow Lorna Hawthorne, who also serves as president of the foundation, her husband’s true passion was the promotion and improvement of educational opportunities for children and young adults.

“Despite all the numerous accolades that he received in his lifetime, Lowell’s primary goal and focus was always on investments in education,” she said in a press release. “He always said that a mind is a terrible thing to waste and that a positive community is everyone’s business. And so while he is no longer here to actively improve the world through the empowerment of our youth through education, he provided a terrific platform for the vision to live on for decades. So the objective of the Lowell F Hawthorne Foundation is to focus on student development through partnering with excellent educational institutions.”

Ms Hawthorne refers to the January 19 inaugural awards ceremony – which will also serve as the official launch of the foundation – as “The genesis of what will ultimately be a life-changing foundation for thousands of students… A powerful organisation that we can all be proud of, in the name of a beloved legend. We are therefore very excited and extremely hopeful that as many people as possible will join us online for this truly inspiring occasion.”

Four special honorees will be recognised during the ceremony for their unique and invaluable contributions to society in their respective fields. They are Wayne Frederick, President of Howard University; Una Clarke, former New York City Council Member; Cheryl McKissack Daniel, President of McKissack and McKissack Construction; and Sandra Bryan, Golden Krust Caribbean Restaurant Franchisee.

Musical entertainment will be provided by saxophonist Jean Mathieu as well as the Denzel Washington School of the Arts.

Master of Ceremonies for the virtual event will be Bob DeSouza.