Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships and Akademi Awards for 2012

The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee conferred the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships (Akademi Ratna) on violinist N Rajam, Grammy award-winning percussionist T H Vikku Vinayakram and veteran playwright Ratan Thiyam for the year 2012, on 28 May 2013. The awards were given away at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. Apart from these three personalities, other 34 artists were given away the Akademi awards (Akademi Puraskar). These artists were from different spheres such as theatre, music, dance and traditional arts. For the overall contribution to the performing arts, Nandini Ramani and Arun Mahadev Kakade were also given away the awards.

About the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships (Akademi Ratna)

• Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship and Awards are given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama.

• It is the highest national recognition given to practicing artists.

• The Akademi Award, also known as Akademi Puraskar has been conferred on people since 1952 and the Akademi Fellow honour also called Akademi Ratna has been conferred since 1954.

• Akademi Fellowship carries a prize amount of three lakh rupees and the Akademi Awards carry a prize amount of one lakh rupees, besides Tamrapatra and Angavastram.

• The Fellowships are restricted to forty living recipients at any given time. New Fellows are elected upon the demise of an existing Fellow.

• Karaikudi Sambasiva Aiyer, Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Allauddin Khan, Hafiz Ali Khan, and Prithviraj Kapoor were the first awardees of Sangeet Natak Akademi fellowships.

About the Sangeet Natak Akademi

• Sangeet Natak Akademi was established by the Government of India in 1953 and is India’s National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama.

• It is responsible for promotion and preservation of the performing arts of the country.

• One of the important activities of the Akademi is to honour artists of outstanding individual achievement in the fields of music, dance and drama.

UIDAI won 21st Century Achievement Award 2013

The jury of International Data Group (IDG) Computerworld Honours Program, Computerworld Honors Laureate selected UIDAI for 21st Century Achievement Award 2013 under the category Economic Development for the pivotal role played by UIDAI in leveraging technology to change people lives, streamline delivery of welfare services and provide opportunity to people to participate more fully in society. The Computerworld Honors Program awards were presented at the Gala Evening and Awards Ceremony at the Andrew W.Mellon Auditorioum in Washington in the second week of June 2013. The Computerworld Honors Program, recognizes and honours visionary application of Information Technology promoting positive social, economic and social change. There were 24 nominees under this category from different parts of the World. The initiative of Government of India was widely appreciated by the participants at the function.

IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

Kevin Barry, the Irish author won 100000 Euro International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his debut novel, City of Bohane. The book has described, the Ireland of 2053 a place where one would not want to be alive. This is not a future of shiny technology but one in which history turns in circles and quirks an eyebrow at the idea of ‘progress. To win the award, Kevin Barry managed to beat 153 titles nominated from 160 libraries of 44 countries. City of Bohane was nominated by Cork, Dublin and Limerick City Libraries. Barry is the third Irish author to win this award.

About the Award

The prize is open for novels in any language that has been published in or translated into English and is organised by Dublin City Libraries on behalf of Dublin City Council. The award is sponsored by IMPAC, an international management productivity company. Previous winners of the award include to Colm Toibin in 2006 for The Master, Gerbrand Bakker in 2010 for The Twin, Colum McCann in 2011 for Let the Great World Spin, Jon McGregor in 2012for Even the Dogs.

66th Cannes Film Festival

Blue is the Warmest Colour (La Vie D’Adèle Chapitres 1 et 2) which is directed by French-Tunisian filmmaker Abdellatif Kechiche won the top honour - the Palme d’Or - at the 66th Cannes Film Festival. The awards were decided after reviewing 20 films in competition by a nine-member jury led by US filmmaker Steven Spielberg, joined by Australian actress Nicole Kidman and Oscar-winning director Ang Lee among others. The film is a three-hour love story based on a graphic novel by Julie Maroh starring Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux. It 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. With this the runner-up award, the Grand Prix, went to Inside Llewyn Davis which is directed by the Coen brothers. It is important here to note that the Coen brothers had won the Palme d’Or in 1991. Also, the Jury Prize went to Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-Eda for Like Father, Like Son.

Some other Important Awards

• 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.