Mangaluru: Vishwa Konkani Awards presented at a glittering ceremony

Mangaluru: Vishwa Konkani Awards presented at a glittering ceremony

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Nov 7, 2015: The Vimala Pai Vishwa Konkani Sahitya Awards 2015 and Basti Vaman Shenoy Vishwa Konkani Seva Awards 2015 were presented to outstanding achievers at a ceremony held to coincide with the valedictory of the two-day ’Vishwa Konkani Sahitya Samaroh - 2015’ at the World Konkani Centre on November 6, Friday. The event was jointly organised by the World Konkani Centre, Department of Kannada and Culture and Department of English, Goa University.

 

Meena Kakodkar received the Vimala V Pai Vishwa Konkani Sahitya Puraskar for her Konkani novel ’Vastu’, while the Vimala V Pai Vishwa Konkani Kavitha Krithi Puraskar  went to eminent Konkani poet Andrew L D’Cunha for his anthology of poems ’Anjurachem Paan’.

Suresh G Amonkar who has contributed significantly to Konkani language movement was conferred the  Vimala V Pai Vishwa Konkani Jeevan Siddhi Samman. Grace Pinto and H Shantharam received the  Basti Vaman Shenoy Vishwa Konkani Seva Awards  for their outstanding services in the educational field. The Awards carried a cash prize of Rs one lakh, a citation, a shawl and a memento.

TV Mohandas Pai, Chairman of Manipal Global Education, who spoke as a chief guest said the outstanding achievers  will serve as a role model to the present generation and would inspire them to serve the society in a much better way. Knowledge and unity go a long way in solving the problems confronting the society, he added.

All the awardees spoke on the occasion and thanked the organisers for choosing them for the awards and also assured to strive with much more vigour for the development of the language.

The function was presided over by  Dr Uday Narayan Singh, chairman, Centre for Endangered Languages, Visva-Bharati, Shantiniketan. He lauded the World Konkani Centre for its initiative in recognising and honouring Konkani talents. He was presented a memento on the occasion by Basti Vaman Shenoy.

Konkani Academy President Roy Castelino, Ramdas Kamath, Ramesh Pai,  Venkatesh Baliga and many other eminent Konkani personalities were present.