The Connecticut Bar Association will honor New London Superior Court Judge Susan B. Handy with its Henry J. Naruk Judiciary Award at a ceremony next month in Hamden.

The association is recognizing Handy, a senior judge with 21 years on the bench, for outstanding contributions throughout her career. The CBA will present the award to Handy and will recognize other the top judges and lawyers at its first awards celebration, “Celebrate with the Stars,” to be held from 6 to 9 p.m. April 3 at Cascade in Hamden.

Naruk, the award’s namesake, was a Superior Court judge from 1969 to 1980 and was the first president and chairman of the board of the Connecticut Judges Association, from 1977 to 1979. Naruk, who died in 1991, served as president of the Connecticut Bar Association from 1983 to 1984.

Handy, who started her career as a teacher, maintains a commitment to education. She is as a member of the criminal jury instruction committee and co-chairwoman of the events subcommittee of the judicial-media committee. She is a former chairwoman of the external affairs advisory board, serves on the faculty for the education of newly appointed judges, and often is part of the Connecticut Judges Institute teaching faculty.

Handy has served as the chief administrative judge of criminal matters, the administrative judge of the New London Judicial District, the presiding judge of criminal matters in New London, and is a past member of both the rules and executive committees.

As the judge member of the CBA Civics Education Committee, she helped coordinate a video reenactment of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the Connecticut Compromise. Additionally, Handy has been actively involved with the CBA’s Law Day activities. In 2013, she organized and wrote the script for the Law Day program at the Connecticut Appellate Court and is currently working with the committee on organizing the 2014 Law Day program.