The superintendent of public instruction shall prepare annually for each honors award recipient a suitable printed certificate which shall describe the purposes of the award, indicate the year in which the award was given, and be signed by the superintendent of public instruction. The certificate for each honors award recipient shall be delivered to the participating high school principal on or before May 30 of each school year. Each participating principal shall provide for issuing the certificate to each recipient at the regular high school commencement or other appropriate time prior to high school commencement.