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ATA Awards 2008 Ceremony

07.03.2008

ATA takes great pride in recognizing and honoring Telugu people from all over world who have achieved significant successes in various fields including life achievement awards. These awards are very special and done every two years. We are proud to announce that we have many great achievers amongst us. This year we have about ten categories from which winners were selected. It was not an easy task as each one was better than the other. The Awards Committee members are experts in these fields and selections were made objectively, based on the information submitted to the committee.

Awards Committee selected the Awardees for “Excellence” using the grading system where all the members of the committee had their input. These awards except for the Life Time Achievement award, were limited to the Telugus living in U.S.A. Selection process for Meritorious Awards was done by Adhoc and Executive Committees. These awards were given to the people residing even outside U.S.A. Service Awards were given to the past convener, past executive committee members and other office bearers. Legendary Award and Life Achievement Awards were presented on the night of July 4th, 2008.

Dr. Sambi Reddy Avuthu and Dr. Vidyasagar Annam Conducted the ATA Awards 2008 Ceremony with power point presentation on July 3, 2008 at the Prudential Center, Newark, NJ For the first time in the history of ATA, the awards function was conducted on the center stage with appropriate Indian classical and Telugu film music customized to the honoree’s liking.

Noteworthy is the fact that when Shri Vishwanath came on to the stage to give the awards the theme song from “ Shankarabharanam” was played. Shanthi Annam helped the Awards Committee in planning the presentation with music. Ramesh Ramanathan was the D.J. for the ceremony. Mahendra Korivi assisted him. Each awardee was welcomed on the stage individually with a flower bouquet by Miss Shilpa Mamidi, the current Miss South Asia America and after receiving the award, the awardee was escorted off the stage by Sandeep Annam dressed in traditional Indian attire. Raja Avuthu and Sandeep Allam helped on the back stage.

Venue Committee was very co-operative and made excellent arrangements. At the end of the program the Awards Committee thanked Venkatesh Mutyala (Chair, Venue Committee), Shanthi Annam, Shilpa Mamidi, Sandeep Annam, Mahendra Korivi and D.J. Ramesh Ramanathan.

Legendary Award

Padma Bhushan Dr. Pratap C. Reddy

Life Achievement Award

Padma Shri S.V. Rama Rao------Visual Arts
Shri Bhadriraju Krishnamurti------ Linguistics

Excellence Awards

Dr. Hanimi Reddy Lakireddy------- Community Service
Dr. Jagan Ailinani------- Community Service
Mrs. Usha Munukutla------- Performing Arts
Dr. S.S. Rama Rao Pappu------ Telugu Literature
Rama Krishna Reddy Sudireddy------- Business & Entrepreneurship
Dr. D.H.R. Sarma------- Engineering
Dr. Appajosyula Srinivas Rao------ Engineering & Computer Technology
Dr. Pavan Reddy------ Medicine
Dr. Siva Prasad Kumptla----- Science
Dr. Tata Prakasam------ Science
Miss Rachana R. Mamidi------ Youth

Meritorious Awards

Dr. Meenakshi Chintapalli------ Medicine and Community Service
Dr. Sanku S. Rao------- Leadership and Medicine
Shri Goteti Rama Rao------- Journalism and Literature
Pandit Sri Janardan Mitta------ Performing Arts -Sitar
Ramesh Babu Rayapu------- Social Service and Medicine
Mr. K.R. Surender Reddy------- Leadershi
Mrs. Vandita Rao Yerraballi --------- Community Service
Shri G. Anand--------- Performing Arts- Music
Dr. Appajosyula Satyanarayana----- Computer Science
Yarlagadda Prasad Rao----- Business and Community Service

Award Presenters

Kalatapasvi Shri K. Vishwanath, Film Director
Shri Upendra Chivukula, State Legislator, NJ
Shri Gollapudi Maruthi Rao, Actor and Literary Giant
Dr.K.I. Varaprasad Reddy, Chairman and Managing Director of
Shantha Biotechnics Ltd.

Awards Committee

Chair : Sambi Reddy Avuthu
Co-Chair : Vidyasagar Annam (Founding Member, Co-Convener for Fourth World Telugu Conference by ATA, NY 1992)

Members:

Sarada Poorna Sonty
Lakshman Rao J.V.
Hanmanth Reddy ( Founding Member, Past President)
Chandra Reddy Gavva ( President ATA)
Vijaypal Reddy (National Coordinator)
Parushuram Reddy (Trustee Advisor)