AWARDS DECEMBER 2009

 AWARDS DECEMBER 2009

• 59th Miss World 2009
  Kaiane Aldorino from Gibraltar was named the new Miss World at Johannesberg, South Africa.
  
  First runner-up was Miss Mexico, Perla Beltran Acosta. Second runner-up was South Africa’s Tatum, Keshwar. Miss India Pooja Chopra received Beauty with a Purpose title for her service to welfare of girl children. Priyanka Chopra was one of the Judges during the contest.
  
• On the eve of Asian Film Festival, Amitabh Bachan received Asian Film Cultural Award.
  
• Scientist Yash Pal and Project Director of Chandrayaan-1 M. Annadurai have been selected for H.K. Firodia awards for 2009. Professor Yashpal has been chosen for his contribution in the field of education and communication technology whereas M. Annadurai will get the honour for his role in the moon mission.
  
• The Golden Peacock Award was won by Taiwanese film I Can’t Live without You. The Silver Peacock award along with a Rs.15 lakh (Rs.1.5 million) cash prize for the best director, went to Ounie Leconte for her French-South Korean film 'A Brand New Life'.
  
• India Today journalist Shyamlal Yadav was conferred with 1st NDTV National RTI (Right To Information) award. He applied more than 17000 RTI applications.
  
• Twitter has been named the popular English word of 2009 by Global Language Monitor, USA. Among the 15 words selected for voting, Obama and H1N1 stood at 2nd and 3rd place respectively and Cartel was placed last.
  
• Pakistan’s Nazim Sethi, Friday Times, Daily Times Editor in Chief was conferred with Golden Pen of Freedom award..
  
• CNN IBN Indian of the Year 2009award was conferred on A R Rahman. The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar.
  
• CSIR Director, Scientist Samir Brhmachari was selected for Nayudamma award 2010. This award will be given by RMK Engineering College, Chennai and Nayudamma Centre for Development Alternatives, Nellore.
  
• Chairman and Group CEO of Bharti Enterprises Sunil Mittalwas conferred the 10th Lal Bahadur Shastri National Awardby President Pratibha Devisingh Patil for his contribution to Public Administration and Academic Management.
  
• Renowned sarod player Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and bharatanatyam dancer Geeta Chandran were selected for the prestigious Saraswati Puraskarfor their contribution to the world of art and the society.
  
• Ratan Tata received the ‘Order of Merit of Italian Republic’ award from Claudio Scajola, Minister of Economic Development, Italy.
  
• Editor-in-chief of the Hindu N.Ramhas been conferred the second Lokmanya Tilak National Journalist Award by the Kesari Mahratta Trust.
  
• APPSC Chairman, Venkatram Reddy was conferred Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE) lifetime achievement award for his contribution to education as vice chancellor of JNTU, Hyderabad.
  
• Vishwanath Khaire and Surendranath Satapathi were conferred with 2008 Bhasha Samman awards in the categories of Academy classical and Medieval literature.
  
• AP Hindi Academy Chairman, Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasadreceived Sahitya Academy Awardfor novel Draupadi. He also received the award for the book Thomas in 1992. He is the first person to receive the award for two times.
  
• Renowned Scientist Professor CNR Rao has won the August–Wilhelm-von-Hofmann Medal awarded by the German Chemical Society in recognition of his outstanding contributions in the field of chemistry. He is the first Indian scientist to win this prestigious honour.
  
• Rajiv Arogyasri Health Insurance Scheme received The ManthanAward-South Asia 2009 under e-health category. It was launched in 2004 by Digital Empowerment Foundation in partnership with World Summit Award of Information Technology and other stakeholders.