The high bar for designating someone as a National Hero was defended by Ewart Brown, the former premier whose administration brought the distinction into law.

Dr Brown spoke after it was revealed that elaborate eligibility criteria for National Heroes meant no new candidates were selected this year.

Asked whether he was taken aback that none was recommended by the selection committee, he said: “No, not at all. I think it’s that important.

“For a minute there after I left, I was concerned — this isn’t employee of the month. It’s a very, very special honour.”

National Heroes Day was launched in 2008, during Dr Brown’s tenure as premier, when former Progressive Labour Party leader Dame Lois Browne-Evans became Bermuda’s first official National Hero a year after her death.

Dr Brown told The Royal Gazette this week: “For a while there, they cheapened it. Not for who they honoured, but because it seemed they felt obligated.”

He said of the high threshold: “It should be.”

Dr Brown added: “It’s the highest honour the country can award, and I believe it is a very valuable tool for teaching kids and setting standards of service.”

The first National Heroes Day was held on October 13, but in the following year it replaced what was previously the Queen’s Birthday holiday. It is now marked on the third Monday every June.

No new heroes were announced in 2009 or 2010 amid disputes over who should sit on the selection committee.

At the launch of the programme, the Government stated that the committee could comprise two government MPs, one opposition MP, a government senator and an opposition senator to review proposals from the public, putting forward its recommendations to the minister responsible for culture.

However, there were calls for more community involvement in the selection, and the committee unveiled in 2010 contained no members of the Opposition.

Three heroes were selected at once in 2011: Edgar Fitzgerald Gordon, a founding father of Bermuda’s labour movement; Pauulu Kamarakafego, a civil rights leader and political activist; and Sir Henry Tucker, a leader in Bermuda’s international business sector.

As of last year, a seven-member Naming and Recognition Committee would be established with a head, three members recommended by the minister, one member recommended by the Opposition leader and two members of the general public recommended by the head of the committee.

For this year, the group was asked to complete a 20-question survey on each nominee and to give a rating of between one and five in response to each question.

Nominees had to obtain an average score of 85 to be considered, but none of the 25 put forward was able to qualify.

Dr Brown said the release of the nominees’ names under a public access to information request should not have gone ahead.

“Ira Philip was the chair of the committee that looked into this, and he looked at a number of different jurisdictions,” he explained. “Not one of them released the names of the nominees.

“I do not think that it serves anybody well for the public to know who didn’t get honoured. Nobody writes to London to ask who gets nominated for honours.”

Dr Brown added: “In a small community, that can only serve to increase divisions. They should not have released it; it’s personal. It’s something other jurisdictions do not release.”

The former premier said he was “really happy they stopped awarding hero status to anyone living” — a reference to Sir John Swan, another former premier, who became a National Hero in 2016 for his contributions to the island.

As of last year, the award applies only to the deceased.

Dr Brown said that he had told Sir John, a friend, that “I didn’t think anyone living should receive the award”.

He cited the case of Barbados designating a living pop star, Rihanna, as a National Hero in 2021.

Dr Brown added: “What seems to have been forgotten is we had a list of other awards, as is the case for other jurisdictions. Not everyone is going to be a National Hero.”

He pointed out that Jamaica had not elevated Bob Marley to hero status.

However, in 1981, Marley was awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit — at the time the country’s third highest honour.

Dr Brown said other countries had adopted multiple categories for hero status, and Bermuda could do the same.

“All those people I saw on the list would have qualified for one of those categories,” he added.

“Otherwise, rather than having them honoured, it looks like they are being ignored.”

That view was shared in the House of Assembly by Owen Darrell, the culture minister, who said last month that the decision not to name a new National Hero “does not preclude the use of alternative forms of recognition for individuals whose contributions are significant but do not meet the statutory threshold”.

Mr Darrell added: “The committee has determined to reconvene to consider suggestions for such recognition based on the nominations received, and the ministry will consider these options through the appropriate channels.”

The procedure established under the National Heroes Act 2024 limits nominations to once every ten years — meaning the next round of nominations will not open until 2034.