Namma Bengaluru Awards (NBA) Trust launched the 10th edition ‘Namma Bengaluru Awards 2019’ (NBA) in Bengaluru last week. NBA is a pursuit for Unsung heroes, who have striven to make Bengaluru a better city, braving all odds. These awards are the city’s way of saying ‘Thank You’ to its Real Heroes, who work relentlessly towards making Bengaluru a better place to live in.

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Owing to the growing popularity of NBA, we have decided to create the Namma Bengaluru Awards trust, that will continue to recognize, honour and celebrate the efforts of the unsung heroes nominated by Bengalureans for their unparalleled contributions towards the city. NBA Trust also unveiled its new logo with the tag line of ‘My City My Heroes’ to celebrate a decade of people’s awards. Ramesh Arvind is the Ambassador, making a comeback to the awards (He was one of the jury in 2010).

The award that has recognized and celebrated efforts of the change makers in Bengaluru has seen 2,58,468 nominations and recognized 87 unsung heroes out of 261 finalists in these nine years. The winners this year will be receiving a cash prize to help pursue their dreams. As always, the entire process is monitored and supervised by internationally renowned audit firm making this award the most transparent one. After further deliberation and debate, the winners are then selected from among the short-listed candidates by an esteemed jury panel comprising of renowned Corporates, Citizen Activists and urban governance experts.

To enable greater nominations this year we have decided to only allow online applications . Nomination for the awards is open and citizens can hereby nominate extraordinary Bengalureans under the following categories by February 28, 2019:

Citizen of the Year Rising Star of the Year Media Person of the Year Social Entrepreneur of the Year Government Official of the Year ‘Namma Bengalurean of the year’ award to the Outstanding individual who is chosen from amongst the top five nominees (By the Jury).

Eminent jury comprising of 16 revered Bengalureans (some of whom have been active participants since its inception) will be involved in the process starting today. The winners will be announced at a gala event on April 27th, 2019.

Ramesh Aravind, Ambassador and jury of Namma Bengaluru Awards 2019, launching the event by lighting the lamp, said: “My First Love, My First Fear, My first Success, My first victory, everything happened in Bengaluru and that is why this city holds an important place in my life. When you have an emotional connect, it will become Namma City and for me it is Namma Bengaluru. Hence Namma Bengaluru Awards which honours ordinary people doing extraordinary work is special for me. We have the onus on us to find them, honour them and celebrate the success of Unsung Heroes.”

Ashwin Mahesh, Trustee and Jury member said: “Everyone who is making an effort to bring some change to this city is special. This journey started 10 years ago and now we have established a tradition in Namma Bengaluru in recognizing unsung heroes. Each one of them are a role model and people look up to them. It is our privilege to be part of this 10-year journey and feels good to see Shri Ramesh Aravind making a comeback. We want to thank each and everyone of you who have part of this journey. We as the jury feel happy to take these 3 months journey and participate in the process of identifying these heroes.”

The management of the trust comprises: Pradeep Kar, Chairman and MD, Microland Limited is the Chair of the Jury. Other trustees are Dr Ashwin Mahesh – Urban Expert, Dr Vishal Rao – Oncology Surgeon and Ravichandar – Chairman, Feedback Consulting, Sanjay Prabhu – Director, ANMEL and Suresh N R, Director, Namma Bengaluru Foundation is the Managing trustee.

The jury members for the 10th edition of the awards is:

Pradeep Kar, Chairman and Managing Director, Microland

Dr. Ashwini Mahesh, Founder, Social Technology Firm, MapUnity

Dr. Vishal Rao, Oncology Surgeon

Sanjay Prabhu Director, ANMEL

Ramesh Aravind, Cine Artist

V Ravichandar, Chairman, Feedback Consulting

CN Kumar, Founder Chairman, Advantage Offshore Knowledge Services Private

Jishu Dasgupta, Musician and Marketing consultant

N S Mukunda, Founding President, Citizens’ Action Forum

S Vishwanath, Water Conservation Expert

Sajan Poovayya, Senior Advocate, High Court of Karnataka and Supreme Court of India

Dr. Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman, Manipal Group of Hospitals

Tara Anooradha, Cine Artist

G Manjusainath, Senior Correspondent, Press Trust of India

Anita Reddy, Founder Trustee, Association for Voluntary Action and Service – AVAS

Nominations received will be duly audited in March 2019. Based on certain criteria of assessment, the jury will deliberate on the nominations and shortlist 5-6 people per category. Those who make the cut will be invited for a personal interaction with the jury, following which the final winner will be decided. The winners’ names will be revealed on the awards night.

Note: This press note was shared by Priyadarshini of Namma Bengaluru Foundation, and published here with minimal edits.