AWARDS FEBRUARY 2013

AWARDS FEBRUARY 2013

• Indian scientist Sugata Mitra was awarded the million-dollar TED Prize on 26 February 2013 for pursuing his idea for building the schools in the Internet. TED Prize is actually awarded to the extraordinary people who have creative as well as bold ideas for global change. Sugata Mitra is a researcher who started inspiring the children across the world to arouse curiosity in them. In 1999, Sugata along with his colleagues installed the Internet-connected computer in New Delhi and left it with the hidden camera. Eventually, the slum kids started learning English as well as searched the Internet for various Science and other topics. Sugata performed these experiments for 13 years, which eventually earned him 1 million US dollars TED Prize. TED Prize was first introduced in 2005. 

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• B Surender Mohan, CMD, NLC (Neyveli Lignite Corporation) was conferred with the CEO with HR Orientation Award on 17 February 2013 at the World HRD Congress 2013 in Mumbai. Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited is a Navratna Government of India Enterprise. World HRD Congress is actually the largest meeting of the HR professionals from the world which brings together global personalities. World HRD Congress is held annually and the purpose of the meeting is to honour best CEOs who implement as well as innovate the new techniques in HR arena. The World HRD Congress 2013 was held at Hotel Taj Lands End, Mumbai. 170 HR professionals from USA, South America, India and England participated in this meeting. B Surender Mohan was chosen for this award by Jury and Council of Board Members of World HRD Congress 2013.

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• Information Commissioner of Andhra Pradesh, P. Vijaya Babu was conferred with Narla-Deveneni puraskaram at a function held at Guntur on 28 February. With an experience of over 25 years in main stream journalism, Mr. Vijaya Babu has been chosen for the ‘puraskaram’ for his contribution to the field of journalism. The award was instituted in memory of former Editor of Andhra Prabha and Andhra Jyothi Narla Venkateswara Rao and Deveneni Subba Rao. From this year, Annamaya Seva Samithi has been entrusted with the task of presenting the award. The previous recipients of the award were Turlapati Kutumba Rao, Ch. Raghavachari, Harihara Priya, Sankara Narayana and senior journalist from Tenali B.L Narayana.

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• Bollywood actor Anupam Kher was honoured by Herb J. Wesson, Jr, President Los Angeles City Council and Tom Labonge, Council Member 4th District with a City Proclamation at Los Angeles City Hall on February 26 in Los Angeles, California.It may be known that the actor’s performances in films like Bend It Like Beckham and went on to do Bride & Prejudice, The Mistress of Spices, American Blend, Hope and a Little Sugar, Midnight’s Children and TV series ER has been appreciated and been an inspiration for other actors.

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• Vishwaroop, CEO, NTPC SAIL Power Company (NSPCL) has been conferred with “Exemplary Leader Award” by World HRD Congress “Global HR Excellence Awards” held in Mumbai on 25 February. Vishwaroop has been honored for his contribution to the Power Sector. NTPC SAIL Power Company (NSPCL) is the joint venture between NTPC Limited and SAIL for generating power for the steel plants in India.

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• The 85th Academy Awards (Oscars) ceremony took place on 24 February 2013. The annual Academy Awards were presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). The Oscars 2013 ceremony was held at Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California. The main winners of the Oscars 2013 were Life of Pi, with four awards; Argo with three awards; Les Miserables with three awards. 

• Some of the key awards are -

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• List of the awardees of 85th Academy Awards:

• Best Picture: Argo

• Best Actor in a Leading Role: Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln

• Best Actress in a Leading Role: Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook

• Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained

• Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Anne Hathaway for Les Misérables

• Best Animated Feature Film: Brave

• Best Cinematography: Claudio Miranda for Life of Pi

• Best Costume Design: Anna Karenina

• Best Directing: Ang Lee for Life of Pi

• Best Documentary Feature: Searching for Sugar Man

• Best Documentary Short: Inocente

• Best Film Editing: William Goldenberg for Argo

• Best Foreign Language Film: Amour (Austria)

• Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell for Les Misérables

• Best Music-Original Score: Mychael Danna for Life of Pi

• Best Music-Original Song: Skyfall from Skyfall (Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth)

• Best Production Design: Rick Carter (Production Design); Jim Erickson (Set Decoration) for Lincoln

• Best Visual Effects: Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott for Life of Pi

• Best Writing-Adapted Screenplay: Chris Terrio for Argo

• Best Writing-Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained

• Pandit Ravi Shankar, the sitar legend was honoured with the posthumous Lifetime Achievement Grammy award. His daughter sitarist Anoushka Shankar accepted the award on his behalf on 9 February 2013 ahead of the Grammy’s show that took place in Los Angeles on 10 February 2013. Anoushka Shankar and Norah Jones attended the pre-Grammy ceremony at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre for accepting the honour which was given to their deceased father. Pandit Ravi Shankar died on 11 December 2012 at 92 years of age. Pandit Ravi Shankar was in the list of seven other artistes named for Lifetime Achievement Award honourees. The Indian sitar legend also won best world music album Grammy for the Living Room Sessions Part 1. PanditRavi Shankar’s daughter Anoushka Shankar was also nominated in this category for album Traveller.

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• The Romanian film Child's Posehas picked up the coveted Golden Bear prize for best film at the 63rd Berlin film festival. The film, directed by Calin Peter Netzer, tells the story of a wealthy mother who uses her connections to try and stop her son from going to jail. US filmmaker David Gordon Green won best director at the festival for his comic road movie Prince Avalanche, while best actress went to Chile's Paulina Garcia for her role as a Santiago divorcee in Gloria.The biggest surprise at the Berlin awards ceremony was the best actor prize going to Nazif Mujic, a Bosnian Roma who had never acted before and had to be talked into playing himself in a drama based on his real-life ordeal.

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• Michael Clarke, the Australian cricket captain won the fourth Allan Border Medal in Melbourneon 4 February 2013. 31-year old Clarke had won the medal earlier in 2005, 2009 and 2012. Apart from Clarke, the only other player to win this medal four times is Captain Ricky Ponting. Michael Clarke also won the Test cricketer of the year award for the second consecutive time after he scored 1080 runs in nine tests from 25 February 2012 to January 28 2013.Allan Border Medal is a prestigious award given away in the Australian cricket. It was first awarded in 2000. The Allan Border Medal is named after the former captain of Australia, Allan Border.