In July of 2006, Maka'ala Yates was honored and received the Kaonohi Award in Honolulu, Hawaii at Washington Place, the original home of the late Queen Liliuokalani, which is where many of the Governors of Hawaii resided while in office up until a few years ago. This prestigious award, presented once every two years, was bestowed upon Maka'ala for his dedicated service and outstanding work in Hawaiian medicine, culture and community support.

The Kaonohi award was established in 1994 by Papa Ola Lokahi to recognize people who have made significant contributions to improving Hawaiian health and well being within the Hawaiian communities. The award is named for Dr. Alexander Kaonohi (1905–1959) who came from a long line of Kahuna la’au lapa’au (traditional medicine) and trained in Hawaiian healing arts. He was a pioneer in combining traditional and western education to provide care for Native Hawaiians.

Past recipients included Father Damien (posthumous), Dr. Kekuni Blaisdell, Kahu Lyons Naone, Senator Daniel Inouye, Auntie Margaret Machado, Senator Daniel Akaka, Auntie Mahilani Poepoe (posthumous) and Ka’upena Wong just to mention a few.