Mother's Day medal of honour
- Service
- Nationwide except the Åland Islands
- Public service
The medal of honour awarded by the President of the Republic is the Medal First Class with Gold Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland (FWR M I gold).
Municipalities, parishes, associations and other communities can nominate mothers to the Regional State Administrative Agencies. The mother's children may also file in the nomination.
The Mother’s Day medal of honour can be awarded to mo ...
Do the following
Fill out the following forms:
- a nomination form for a medal of honour, Finnish orders of knighthood
- attachment to the Mother’s Day medal of honour application
- for nominations by the mother's own children, two recommendations from organisations that know the family in question well. A proposal that only has one recommendation, or no recommendation at all, will not be accepted before it has been supplemented with sufficient recommendations.
Submit the nomination for a Mother’s Day medal of honour with its attachments by mail to the registry of the local Regional State Administrative Agency based on the mother's domicile.
The awarded mothers will be invited to a Mother's Day ceremony held in Helsinki, House of Estates, where the President of the Republic will award the medal to chosen mothers. The event is organised by the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare.
To whom and on what terms
The nominee can be a biological, adoptive or surrogate mother who has turned 40 years old. The number of children is not a determining factor for the award.
The awarded mothers represent different groups, such as working mothers, single parents and farmhouse wives as well as minority groups, such as Romany, Sami and immigrants.
The Swedish-speaking population is also taken into consideration, as well as an even distribution of nominees regarding their age.
The medals are awarded based on merits in exceptional child-rearing and as a promotor of family life and parenthood. Other more general merits can also be considered besides parenthood.
A mother can also be awarded based on more extensive societal educational tasks, such as work with child protection and family organisations, youth and sports organisations or other societal organisations. Professional educators cannot be awarded.
Nominations made by the mother’s own children must contain at least two reliable, independent recommendation statements from such organisations that know the family in question well. Other relatives, friends and neighbours can also be initiative, but the actual nomination must be presented by an authority or organisation.