for the body of her work, howes received many honors and awards during her lifetime. they included the award of merit from the cape tercentenary foundation in 1953, the festival of union medal in 1960, and a gold medal from the cecchetti society in 1969. for the promotion of ballet in south africa, she was awarded a medal of honour from the suid-afrikaanse akademie vir wetenskap en kuns (south african academy of arts and science) in 1970. in february 1976, she was named patron of the local balletomanes society, and in june of that year, she was granted an honorary doctorate of music from the university of cape town. a few years later, in 1981, she was made a fellow of the cecchetti branch of the imperial society of teachers of dancing. this was followed by a veritable cascade of awards and honors, too numerous to mention. in 1989, she was named to the prestigious order for meritorious service (gold class), an honor bestowed by the south african state president, and in 1991, she was given a special nederburg award for services to ballet.