Readers’ poll to shortlist nominations for Person of the Year Award

An online poll will be conducted from December 1 to December 21 to shortlist five nominees for The Weekend Leader – VIT Person of the Year Award 2016 from the 10 nominations received from The Weekend Leader editors.

“Seven individual and three pairs of nominees are in the fray for the award that was introduced in 2010, the same year The Weekend Leader online magazine was founded with a self-imposed mandate to give prominence to positive news,” said Sam Rajappa, Consulting Editor, The Weekend Leader. 

The Readers' Poll will be conducted from December 1 to December 21

In line with its founding principles, The Weekend Leader has continued to put the spotlight on the unsung heroes working in diverse fields such as environment, education, health, disability, women empowerment, development, and poverty eradication.

The magazine selects one of the unsung heroes, social entrepreneurs, or change makers featured by it as its ‘Person of the Year’. VIT University has been associated with this initiative since 2011.

The Award is now called ‘The Weekend Leader – VIT Person of the Year’ and comes with a cash prize of Rs.25,000 (Twenty Five Thousand only), a trophy and citation.

Following is the List of Previous Years’ Winners:

2010: Ms. Tanishk Shyamya (Ranchi, Jharkhand)
2011: Mr. V Venkatraman (Erode, Tamil Nadu)
2012: Mr. Anil Joshi (Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh)
2013: Mr. Balasaheb Darade (Pangra Dole, Maharashtra)
2014: Ms. Thinlas Chorol (Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir)
2015: Mr. Jockin Arputham (Mumbai, Maharashtra)

PROCESS OF SELECTION OF PERSON OF THE YEAR 2016

The online voting that will take place from December 1 to December 21 will pick the top five nominees who receive the highest number of votes. A three-member panel, comprising Justice K Chandru, Dr. Rekha Ramachandran, and Dr. A Balachandran will then select the winner through a ranking system from among the five short-listed candidates. The decision of the panellists will be final.

About the Panel Members

A champion of social justice, Justice K Chandru is known for the several landmark verdicts that he delivered during his tenure as a judge in the Madras High Court, where he served initially as an additional judge from 2006 and later as a permanent judge from 2009 until his retirement in 2013.

Dr Rekha Ramachandran is co-founder and chairperson of Down’s Syndrome Federation of India (Tamil Nadu Chapter) and founder of ‘Mathru Mandir’, an institution that provides care and support for individuals with Down’s Syndrome. She is also vice-president of the Indian Triathlon Federation.

Dr A Balachandran is General Manager, VIT-Technology Business Incubator (VIT-TBI), and has more than 25 years of Techno-commercial experience. He has been in-charge of VIT-TBI from its inception in 2003 and has mentored and assisted a number of startups and many innovators in the last 13 years. – TWL Bureau