Third edition of Bala Kailasam Memorial Award announced

It seeks to celebrate the innovative use of media for social causes

The third edition of the Bala Kailasam Memorial Award (BKMA), instituted by Cinema Rendezvous Trust, to celebrate and honour the innovative use of media towards social causes, will go to Harish Damodaran of the Indian Express .

The award carries a citation and a cash prize of Rs. 50,000, according to a press release.

Other finalists, who will receive a citation include M. Gunasekaran of News18 Tamil in the television category, Iswar Sreekumar and Anushka Meenakshi for Ko Ki Pa Lu in the documentary category, and Sohini Chattopadhyay, TheWire.in and Scroll.in , in the world wide web category.

The award ceremony will be held on November 11 at the Russian Cultural Centre in Chennai.

Nominations were invited from all over the country for the third BKMA, the release added.

A nomination panel, consisting of eminent personalities from across the country, and representing each of the above-mentioned categories, was constituted to select three leading nominees for each category.

A special jury team was installed to select the finalists in each category and zero in on one winner for the prize.

The members of the special jury team were: A.S. Panneerselvan, Reader’s Editor, The Hindu , R. Vijaya Sankar, Editor, Frontline , Sushila Ravindranath, senior journalist, Prasanna Ramasamy, documentary film maker, and Sashi Nair, Director, Press Institute of India.

Man with a vision

The award was instituted in 2015 by the Cinema Rendezvous Trust to celebrate Bala Kailasam’s spirit and vision.

Fondly known as BK, he was a highly respected television professional and an activist documentary filmmaker.

His vision of using the media for social well-being, and environmental upkeep led him to create a band of highly acclaimed media professionals, just as his father K. Balachander did in the film-industry, according to the release.

Cinema Rendezvous is a registered non-profit trust working on art and culture, and related platforms with the vision of promoting social dialogue between artists.

For details, contact: 95148 95141 / 94440 35141 / 94449 14244.