Odisha Living Legends Awards to be held in Bhubaneswar on Dec 2

Bhubaneswar: OdishaDiary (www.orissadiary.com) the leading news and views web portal of Odisha will felicitate the winners of Odisha Living Legend, Youth Inspiration and OdishaInc Awards for 2015. The names will be announced on 30 November and the award ceremony will be held at 6.00 pm, 2nd December 2015 at Mayfair Hotel in Bhubaneswar.

On this occasion, OdishaDiary will also unveil its next ten year vision document 2015-2025 to celebrate 10th anniversary. OD completed its 10th Year on 11 November 2015 and has entered into its second decade of successful operation.

Every year OdishaDiary confers Odisha Living Legend, Odisha Youth Inspiration and OdishaInc Awards on leading individuals and groups that have made excellent contribution to different walks of life in the state of Odisha. These awards launched in 2011 have emerged as the most important civilian award to acknowledge and recognize extraordinary and inspiring contribution to Odia society.

In last four years many leading names including Tulsi Munda, Priyambada Hejmadi, Pratibha Ray, Sarthak Behuria , Sabyasachi Mohapatra, Sitakanta Mahapatra, Jharana Das, Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, Manorama Mahapatra, Kishore Mania, PK Mahanandia, Santrupta Mishra and Uttam Mohanty etc have been awarded.

This year the name of the Odisha Living Legends will be released by distinguished jury members on November 30 at a Press meet in Bhubaneswar. The award selection committee was headed by acclaimed writer, novelist, columnist Dr. Gourahari Das. He was ably assisted by other members of jury. The members included Dr. Adyasha Das (academic, singer, poet, writer), Shri Priyadarshi Mishra (MLA, Bhubaneswar North),  Shri Dhirendra Kar, USA-based Entrepreneur, Shri Prasanta Bhunya, Canada (poet, writer), Shri Rashmi Ranjan Parida, Editor & Founder, OdishaDiary.

The selection followed a three phased process. First phase a list of names was prepared by the OD Team on the basis of readers’ feedback. Second phase included the consultation with the selection committee. Third and final phase includes the publication of the name of the awardees after a process of consultation and interaction with the short listed candidates. The final decision was taken by the jury on the basis of broad consensus.

Founder member and Senior Editor Mr. Pradeep Baisakh feels that the initiative of Odisha Diary to acknowledge the great works of the state is a fantastic contribution to Odia society as the platform in itself inspires young people to do good work and continue to achieve excellence despite constraints and challenges. Kamala Kanta Dash founder member and Senior Editor feels that the addition of Youth Inspiration Awards was a great achievement for the team as the young minds found a powerful platform to share with the legends.

The Founder and the Editor in Chief Mr. Rashmi Ranjan Parida shared his team’s vision to create a sustainable platform for regular interaction among the stakeholders in social development and change including those of thinkers, activists, leaders, policy makers, writers, artists, journalists and students. This is why the idea of Odisha Living Legend platform was conceived and articulated. Sharing about the the future of Odisha Diary, Mr Parida identified that the increasing access to internet in the state will provide more opportunities to reach out to the young generation and his team is willing to partner with government, NGOs, universities, media, schools, business houses, Odia diaspora and philanthropists to create awareness and also extend much required skills training to the people of Odisha.

It should be noted that OdishaDiary (OD) has completed its first decade this year. In last ten years the website has emerged as a towering institution to report and represent Odisha at the global stage.  OD has connected citizens with government and business. It has taken up issues of Odia in Odisha, at the national level and the Odia diaspora. OD has uniquely positioned itself in the history of new media and has made a huge contribution through establishing these unique awards and facilitating other initiatives like Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) and Konrak International Cyclothon (KIC).