Awards in 2009

1)     59^th 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.

2)     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.

3)     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'.

4)     On the eve of Asian Film Festival, Amitabh Bachan received Asian Film Cultural Award.

5)     India Today journalist Shyamlal Yadav was conferred with 1st NDTV National RTI (Right To Information) award. He applied more than 17000 RTI applications.

6)     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.

7)     Pakistan’s Nazim Sethi, Friday Times, Daily Times Editor in Chief was conferred with Golden Pen of Freedom award..

8)     CNN IBN Indian of the Year 2009 award was conferred on A R Rahman. The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar.

9)     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.

10)Chairman and Group CEO of Bharti Enterprises Sunil Mittal was conferred the 10th Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award by President Pratibha Devisingh Patil for his contribution to Public Administration and Academic Management.

11)Renowned sarod player Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and bharatanatyam dancer Geeta Chandran were selected for the prestigious Saraswati Puraskar for their contribution to the world of art and the society.

12)Ratan Tata received the ‘Order of Merit of Italian Republic’ award from Claudio Scajola, Minister of Economic Development, Italy.

13)N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of Hindu, has been chosen for the K.R. Narayanan Award 2009 for his outstanding contribution to journalism in India.

14)Veerappa Moily received Moorti Devi award-21 for his Sri Ramayan Mahanveshana.

15)Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, who now leads the Unique Identification Database Authority of the nation, has become the first Indian to be honoured with the Legend in Leadership Award of Yale University.

16)Mr.Lavanam of Atheist Centre, Vijayawada has bagged theJamnalal Bajaj Award -2009 for his contribution in the field of constructive work.

17)Amitab Bachan was awarded Life time achievement award in Mumbai Film Festival.

18)Renowned educationist Prof Yashpal and Prof Trinh Xuan Thuan from Vietnam have been declared joint winners of UNESCO-Kalinga Prize for 2009 for popularisation of science.

19)Indian Council of Agricultural Research scientist Pramod Kumar Aggarwal, who has done pioneering work on the intricate relationship between agriculture, climate and the environment, and enhanced understanding of the probable impact of climate change on agriculture, has won the 2009 Ernesto Illy Trieste Science Prize. He shares the prize money with Carlos Clemente Cerri from Brazil, who has examined the impact of land use changes on climate.

20)Cancer-stricken actor Lisa Ray is among seven Indo-Canadians who are conferred with Canada’s ‘Voice Achievers Award for 2009’ for their outstanding contributions to the film industry, trade, medicine, literature and sports. She has been honoured for her performance in Deepa Mehta’s film Water. The other winners were: Gopal Bhatnagar (cardiac surgery); M.G. Vassanji (arts); Meenu Sikand (social work); Raja Panjwani (sports) and Kuldip Rai Sahi and Asha Luthra for business.

21)Lata Mangeshkar has been conferred France’s highest civilian award, the Insignia of ‘Officier de la Legion d’Honneur’ (Officer of the Legion of Honour). This award was also received by Satya Jitrey and Amitabh Bachan. 

22)Brazil’s Larissa Ramos was crowned Miss Earth title held in Philippines. Miss Fire was won by Miss Spain Alejandra Echevarri, Miss Water by Miss Venezuela Jessica Barboza and Miss Air by Miss Philippines Sandra Seifert.

23)German film The Crocodiles has won the Golden Elephant award in international category. In Asia Panorama section, Chinese movie Two Men’s Class Room has won the Golden Elephant award. Best Director was given to Harard Hamrel for the film A witch in our family in international category and Pandiraj won the award in Asia Panorama category for the film Kids.

24)Chief Justice of Singapore, Chan Sek Keong and Judge, International Court of Justice, Justice Awn S. Al-Khasawneh were conferred with 2009 International Jurists Awards. 2009 National Law Day Awards were conferred on Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Competition Appellate Tribunal chairman Arijit Pasayat, Solicitor General Subramaniam and Lawyer K Viswanath. 

25)Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is chosen for the prestigious Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2009 for her contribution to the promotion of democracy and pluralism. 

26)ISRO chairman Radhakrishnan received Nayudamma award at AP science congress conducted in Tirupati by SV University and AP Academy of Sciences.

27)APGENCO (Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Limited) received National Power Award for the year 2009.

28)GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) has bagged the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation’s (CAPA) newly instituted award in the category, “Best Airport Environmental Performance of the Year”.

29)Rajiv Sadbhavana awards were conferred on Care Hospitals Chairman Somaraju and Bihar Goovernor Devanand Kanwar.

30)A R Rehman was conferred with World sound track Academy award in Belgium for Jaiho song in Slumdog Millionaire.

31)Two Indian NGOs — Mumbai-based “Prerana” and“Sense International India”, Ahmedabad — are to get $100,000 each under “Stars Impact” awards (UK) for their work among disabled and poor children.

32)Shahrukh Khan conferred honorary Black belt in Taekwondo by the Korean government. The actor was also appointed the Honorary Ambassador of Korea (Culture and Tourism) in India.

33)Tamil Nadu’s Agricultural Scientist Subramanyam was conferred with MS Swaminathan award.

34)The Right Livelihood Awards David Suzuki (Honorary Award, Canada) for his lifetime advocacy of the socially responsible use of science, and for his massive contribution to raising awareness about the perils of climate change and building public support for policies to address it".
René Ngongo (Democratic Republic of Congo) is honoured "for his courage in confronting the forces that are destroying the Congo's rainforests and building political support for their conservation and sustainable use".
Alyn Ware (New Zealand) is recognised "for his effective and creative advocacy and initiatives over two decades to further peace education and to rid the world of nuclear weapons".
Catherine Hamlin (Ethiopia) is awarded "for her fifty years dedicated to treating obstetric fistula patients, thereby restoring the health, hope and dignity of thousands of Africa's poorest women". 

35)Arunachal Pradesh Governor and former Army Chief, General J.J. Singh, Law Commission Chairman Justice A. R. Lakshmanan, actor and MP Jayaprada and former cricketer and MP Mohammad Azharuddin. These awards were started in 1977 by Shiromani Institute.

36)Dr. Nageswar Reddy, Director of Asian Institute of Gastroenterology has been conferred with Endoscopist award by American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.

37)Tata Motors Chairman, Mr Ratan Tata, has been named the winner of The Economist’s eighth ‘Business Process Innovation Award’. The British news weekly has selected Mr Tata for the development of the world’s cheapest car, the Tata Nano.

38)Ninety-year-old playback legend Manna Dey is being honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke award, the highest honour in Indian cinema.

39)Kathrin Bringman, the Professor from Germany was conferred with Sastra Ramanujam Award for the year 2009 for his work in Mathematics.

40)Indian-American Human rights activist Mallika Dutt has won the American Courage Award for her human rights work in India and the United States. Ms. Dutt presently heads “breakthrough: building human rights culture” an international human rights organization which spreads the message of social justice through popular media.

41)Noted journalist, writer and human rights activist Balraj Puri has been nominated for the prestigious Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration.

42)The Centre announced a bravery award for 22-year-old Rukhsana, who killed a top LeT militant in Jammu and Kashmir.

Note : Awards in October, November, December 2009 . Source : Sakshi.