10th edition of Namma Bengaluru Awards: Honouring our heroes

Bengaluru, Apr 28: Namma Bengaluru Awards Trust hosted its event - 'The 10th Edition of Namma Bengaluru Awards' (NBA) in Bengaluru. The awards, which aim to honour the 'real heroes' of Bengaluru, recognised six extraordinary Bengalureans for their exemplary contribution towards making the city a better place.

The Namma Bengaluru Awards, first launched in 2009 is the brain child of Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Member of Parliament.

Since 2009, Namma Bengaluru Awards has received over 2.5 lakh nominations and recognised 87 unsung heroes out of list 261 finalists. This year, Namma Bengaluru Awards Trust shortlisted 28 candidates from hundreds of nominations from different categories.

This year's theme was Awakened, Aware, Active, Informed and Determined citizens can create change. This year, Bengalureans extraordinaire and our past winners over the nine years also graced the 10th year celebrations of Namma Bengaluru Awards.

Presided by Hon'ble Justice (Retd) M N Venkatachaliah as the Chief Guest, the following are the recipient of the tenth edition of Namma Bengaluru awards:

Udaya Kumar, History and stone inscription enthusiast for Citizen Individual of the Year

Rohith B R, Deputy Chief of Bureau, Times of India for Media Person of the Year

Ravindra Kumar N, Karnataka Forest Department for Government Official of the Year

Rajesh Babu and Victoria Joslin D'Souza, co-founders of Swachha Eco Solutions for Social Entrepreneur of the Year

Meghana Murthy, Founder, Smitam for Rising Star of the Year

Ashok Kamath of Akshara Foundation was honoured with the coveted "Namma Bengalurean of the Year" award for this exemplary service to reinvigorate the public education system in Bengaluru and Karnataka.

Additionally, this year the Namma Bengaluru Awards Trust felicitated the following individuals and organisation as Champions of Namma Bengaluru for their demonstrated passion and compassion.

Charlie's Animal Rescue Centre (CARE) - an animal rescue centre founded by Sudha Narayana & five friends began as a shelter for 10 dogs & cats is now home to 200 animals, which include dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits and cattle.

Sangeeta Halimani - A woman constable from Yelahanka Police Station for her exemplary act of humanity for having breastfed and comforted a day-old baby found abandoned on the streets of the city.

Uday Kumar, Shiva Kumar, Chetan Kumar BM and Prajwal HK - as they were instrumental in saving the lives of two Surya Kiran pilots who crashed while training for the AERO India show in February this year.

Talking about the awards, Suresh N R, Managing Trustee of Namma Bengaluru Awards Trust said, "All of the 28 finalists are winners for their excellent work in their respective fields. The jury had a tough time and multiple rounds of discussion were conducted to decide on the awardees. We thank the citizens of Bengaluru for nominating such wonderful people who are an inspiration to all of us."