Spoorthi Award winners announced

Every award winner will be presented a citation and `2 lakh. In all, 252 names were considered by the jury before shortlisting final list

Hyderabad: Former SV University Vice-Chancellor Prof Kolakaluri Enoch, educationist Dr Nannapaneni Manga Devi, Adarsha Rythu (model farmer) Nekkanti Subba Rao, noted surgeon Dr Madasi Venkaiah have been selected for the inaugural Spoorthi Awards to be presented at function in Guntur on January 18. Ramon Magsaysay Award winner Shanta Sinha will present the awards.

Disclosing this at a press meet here on Thursday, Dr Ambati Lakshmana Rao, the chairman of the jury committee and former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court, said that besides citations, all award winners would be presented a cheque for Rs 2 lakh each. Apart from Lakshmana Rao, the four-member jury consisted of E A S Sharma, a retired IAS officer, historian Prof Vakulabharanam Ramakrishna and Dr Vasudeva Rao.

For the inaugural year, the foundation decided to present awards in four categories –literature, education, agriculture and social services. Lakshmana Rao commended Bommidala Srikrishna Murthy Foundation for taking up the initiative of felicitating successful personalities in different fields as part of its corporate social responsibility. He pointed out that Spoorthi Awards were unique in the sense that they required well-wishers and friends of a successful personality to propose his or her name for the award. In all, 252 names were considered by the jury before shortlisting final list. The jury chairman mentioned that they had decided to consider applications from across the country from next year onwards.