AWARDS MAY 2013

AWARDS MAY 2013

• Anish Kapoor, the Indian-origin sculptor was honoured with Knighthood, which is the highest honour of Britain. He was conferred the award by the Queen Elizabeth II in her birthday honours list 2013 for Visual Arts services. Anish Kapoor is said to be the pioneering sculptors of his generation and is known for enigmatic sculptural forms as well as monumental public sculptures.
  
• The late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been awarded the country's National Journalism Prize (The Simón Bolívar National Award of Journalism 2013) even though he was accused of persecuting the press during his 14 years in power. The National Journalism Prize Foundation says in a statement on 13 June, that its jury voted unanimously to give Chavez the prize because he gave voice to "the oppressed of the world" and fought a "constant battle against media lies. "Chavez died from cancer on March 5. His selection for a journalism award has stirred debate in Venezuela because international organizations including Human Rights Watch and the Inter American Press Association in the past repeatedly accused the Chavez government of threatening press freedom. The foundation jury was comprised of journalists and academics seen as government supporters.
  
• U.S. author AM Homes has won the Women’s Prize for Fiction for her book, May We Be Forgiven.The 30,000-pound award, formerly known as the Orange Prize, was presented at a ceremony in London on 10 June, by actress Miranda Richardson, chairwoman of the judging panel.
  
• American writer Lydia Davis won 2013 Man Booker International Prize for her innovative and influential writing. The winner of the Prize was announced at the awards ceremony at Victoria and Albert Museum in London on 22 may 2013. This was the fifth Man Booker International Prize. Well-known Kannada author UR Ananthamurthy was the only Indian to be shortlisted for the prestigious award. The Man Booker International Prize recognizes one writer for his or her achievement in fiction. Worth 60000 ponds, the prize is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language. The winner is chosen solely at the discretion of the judging panel and there are no submissions from publishers.
  
• US singer-songwriter Carole King became the first woman to receive the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The President of America, Barack Obama conferred upon her, the Gershwin Prize that is given as a lifetime achievement in popular music. The award was given away at the White House in Washington. Carole King is 71 years of age. Carole King has won the Grammy Award four times. The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, also known as, Gershwin Prize is conferred upon the performer or composer for lifetime contribution to popular music. The award was created in 2007 by the Library of Congress.
  
• The Chief Minister of Kerala, Oommen Chandy won United Nation's Public Service Award for his Mass Contact Programme on 22 May 2013. In the Mass Contact Programme, he engaged with masses of Kerala to address the grievances. He was conferred with the first prize from the Asia Pacific region along with other awardees that are selected on yearly basis from five different zones of the world. Since the year 2003, United Nations has been awarding people as part of the programme for Public Service Day that is celebrated on 23 June. The United Nation's Public Service Award was instituted through the UN resolution and is announced after the three-tier security as well as meticulous examination. The UN Public Service Day ceremonies are scheduled to be organized from 24 June 2013 to 27 June 2013 in Bahrain. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon will confer the awards on the awardees on 27 June 2013.
  
• The US has honored three Indian-Americans with the prestigious Champions of Change awards for their achievements as immigrant innovators and entrepreneurs. The three -- Shradha Agarwal from Chicago, Riddhiman Das from Kansas and Amar Sawhney from Massachusetts -- were presented with the award at the White House on 29 May. They were among 11 people honored. The Indian-Americans and others were felicitated at the "Champions of Change" event at the White House that highlighted immigrant innovators and entrepreneurs - the best and brightest from around the world who are helping create American jobs, grow the economy, and make the US more competitive, an official statement said. The Champions of Change programme was created as an opportunity for the White House to feature groups of Americans - individuals, businesses and organisations - who are doing extraordinary things to empower and inspire members of their communities.
  
• Physicists Peter Higgs and Francois Englert and the European Organization for Nuclear Research will share the 2013 Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research in recognition of their work establishing the existence of the so-called God particle, the Asturias Foundation said on 29 May.
  
• Working independently, Higgs and Englert - along with the late Robert Brout - formulated in 1964 the existence of a subatomic particle that came to be known as the Higgs boson. But it was only in 2012 that the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, was able to confirm the existence of this particle through experiments conducted with the Large Hadron Collider."This finding, which has been called the greatest discovery in the history of the understanding of Nature, enables a glimpse at what happened immediately after the Big Bang," the Asturias Foundation said. Along with a cash prize of 50,000 Euros (about $64,000) and a sculpture by Joan Miro, each award recipient gets a diploma and an insignia bearing the Prince of Asturias Foundation's coat of arms. The prizes, which Spain's Crown Prince Felipe will hand out at a ceremony in the fall in the northern city of Oviedo, are regarded as the Ibero-American world's equivalent of the Nobels.
  
• Blue is the Warmest Color, directed by French-Tunisian filmmaker Abdellatif Kechiche won the top honor - the Palme d'Or - at the 66th Cannes Film Festival. A three-hour lesbian love story based on a graphic novel by Julie Maroh starring Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux won the ovation of the Jury and was almost unchallenged. The film is basically a story about a teenage girl who falls in love with a slightly older woman. Overall, the movie is about sexual awakening, heartbreak, and self-discovery. Mexico's Amat Escalante won the best director prize for his film Heli. Hollywood veteran actor Bruce Dern took the best actor prize for his performance in Nebraska. Argentine-born Frenchwoman Berenice Bejo was awarded the best actress prize for her role in The Past.
  
• Manoj Das, the Noted Oriya writer on 28 May 2013 was presented the NTR National Literary Award. The NTR National Literary Awardwas chosen by the jury of NTR Vignana Trust, headed by its chairperson N. Lakshmi Parvati which carries a cash prize of 1 lakh Rupees and citation. The award recognises Das’s contribution to literature, both in Odiya and English. Manoj Das was also conferred with Padma Sri award and had his stories figured in the compilation of best literary works released in the US. The award is instituted in memory of the actor-turned-politician who made a mark for his struggle to protect Telugu pride. He has penned down his first novel at the age of 14.
  
• Cottage and Village Industry Department of the Madhya Pradesh Government on 16 May 2013 bagged United Nations Public Service Award for year 2013 for their initiative named Graamin Haat. The United Nations honours outstanding public welfare works at international level under different categories every year. The initiative of Graamin Haat was started in the state with the aim of strengthening and empowering the women's self-help groups. The initiative has helped the self help group in becoming more self-reliant economically and ensured participation of women in social decisions. The award will be presented to Kanchan Jain, the Principal Secretary of the Department on 27 June 2013 in Manama, the Kingdom of Bahrain at the United Nations Public Service Forum Day and Awards ceremony between 24 and 27 June. This year theme is – “Transformative e-Government and Innovation: Creating a Better Future for All.”
  
• Singer Hariharan was conferred with the Lata Mangeshkar Samman Alankaran in Indore on 20 May 2013. The Madhya Pradesh government honoured the playback singer with the award. The award distribution was a part of three-day cultural event held in Indore. Madhya Pradesh government instituted the award in 1984. Hariharan, a Padma Shri recipient, sung many songs in different languages such as Hindi, Telugu, Bhojpuri, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Marathi.
  
• The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee presented the Asom Ratna Award for the year 2012 to Indira Goswami (posthumously) on 13 May 2013 at a function at Guwahati, Assam. Indira Goswamy was a legendary story teller and prolific novelist who courageously advocated social change in a very volatile period in Assam’s history. She would be particularly remembered for her role as a mediator in talks between armed militants in Assam and the Government of India. In all her works, ‘Mamoni’ as she was known, had focused on women, the disadvantaged and the oppressed in society. By creating a consciousness about these problems, she was able to sow the seeds of change.
  
• The Ministry for Information & Broadcasting, on 10 May 2013 presented the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke award for life time achievement to Pran Kishan Sikand, popularly known as Pran, at his residence in Mumbai. Pran is the 44th recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award that was instituted in 1969, the birth centenary year Dadasaheb Phalke, who is considered to be the Father of Indian Cinema. Pran has acted in over 400 films in a career spanning six decades. In 2001, the Government of India had honored Pran with the Padma Bhushan award.
  
• Senegalese singer Youssou Ndour and Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho were named as the recipients of Polar Music Prize 2013. Each winner will get one million kronor (98,600 Euros) from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. The awards will be presented at a Stockholm ceremony on 27 August 2013 by King Carl XVI Gustaf. Sweden's highest musical honor is awarded annually to both a pop performer and classical artist. The prize is awarded for exceptional achievements in the creation and advancement of music. The academy recognized Ndour as a singer, poet, storyteller, singer of praise, entertainer and verbal historian.
  
• A young Indian biologist, Dr. Aparajita Datta was honored with the Whitley award, also known as Green Oscar, in London on 2 May 2013. Aparajita Datta, the Indian wildlife biologist was conferred with the award by Princess Anne, at the Royal Geographical Society in London for her efforts in order to save the endangered hornbills in Eastern Himalayas. Aparajita Datta is the head of the program for conservation of the hornbills in dense tropical forests of Arunachal Pradesh, at Nature Conservation Foundation. The tropical forests of Arunachal Pradesh are an abode to five hornbill species. Aparajita Datta set up the community-based conservation program along with tribal hunters in order to protect hornbills. The focus of the program was to bring down the poaching activities. The Whitley awards are given every year in order to honor exceptional individuals for the efforts in conservation of nature in the developing countries. Aparajit Datta won the award along with eighth other conservationists who belonged to different countries. They shared the prize money worth 295000 pounds.
  
• Jenita Mary Nongkynrih, A young woman scientist from Meghalaya was selected for ISRO Young Scientist Award 2013 for her urban information system project in the North East. The award for Jenita Mary Nongkynrih carries a citation and cash of 50000 rupees. Jenita Mary Nongkynrih is currently working as a scientist at the North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC), Umiam, Nongkynrih.