Ten people of Pacific Islands ancestry, including master navigators Nainoa Thompson and Mau Piailug, will be honored for their contributions in perpetuating the culture and values of Hawai'i and the Pacific in the first "Stars of Oceania" event tonight.

The dinner is a fundraiser to establish a scholarship fund for students at the University of Hawai'i who are Pacific Islanders or are doing research that benefits Pacific Islanders.

Thompson is president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society and longtime navigator of the Hokule'a. Piailug, whom Thompson studied under, was first navigator of the Hokule'a when it sailed 2,300 miles from Hawai'i to Tahiti.

Others being honored include Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann and entertainers Jack and Cha Thompson and Kalo Mataele Soukop, producer and director of Kalo South Seas Village Revue.

The event at the Hilton Hawaiian Village is sold out, but donations to the scholarship fund are being accepted. For information on making a donation, contact the Pacific Business Center Program at UH-Manoa at 956-2495 or dorchen@hawaii.edu.