At the ninth annual 'Toto Awards' held recently at the Alliance Francaise, the nominated artistes assembled along with their families and loved ones to share the special occasion.
There was immense energy with people catching up. Some wondered who the awardees were
going to be, while there were those who were happy that there was a platform like 'Toto Funds the Arts' that recognises talents.
The evening began with Bangalore-based band, 'Sulk Station' treating the audience to some wonderful tunes and it simply set the mood for the evening. After this, there was a presentation and excerpts from the work of all the shortlisted artistes.
On the whole, eight awards were given away under four categories -- three for creative writing (English and Kannada), two for photography and one for music.
There were also two awards given away for short films, which was a new category that was introduced to honour the memory of Dr Sanat Kumar Ghosh.
The chief guest for the event was film-maker R V Ramani, who gave away the awards. 'Adam and the Fish Eyed Poets' from Chennai won the music award. The group also received a cash price of Rs 50,000. Niha Masih from New Delhi and Nikhil H Patel from Surat, won awards for thier contribution to photography.
While D M Kurke Prashanth from Bangalore won the creative writing award in Kannada, Anoop Sathyan from Thrissur won an award for his short film, 'A Dream Called America'.
This was then followed by the two awards that were given for creative writing in English. This went to Aditi Rao from Delhi for her poetry and Swetanshu Bora from Bangalore for his play Pagadi.
"When Iwrote this play, it was not really about winning. It was more about getting the message across. The award is a real booster not just monetarily, it also gives artistes like us recognition and encouragement to carry on with the good work," says Swetanshu, who's play focussed on the role history plays in a modern man's life.
Bangalorean Raam Reddy, who won an award for his Telugu short film Ika (Feather), says that the evening also proved to be a great opportunity to network with people and provided a good platform to showcase one's work.
"After the event, Iactually got opportunities to showcase my work in Mumbai as well. And now, I am encouraged to start working on a full-length feature film," he adds.
Looks like each one present at the function felt like a winner in their own way.
There was immense energy with people catching up. Some wondered who the awardees were
going to be, while there were those who were happy that there was a platform like 'Toto Funds the Arts' that recognises talents.
The evening began with Bangalore-based band, 'Sulk Station' treating the audience to some wonderful tunes and it simply set the mood for the evening. After this, there was a presentation and excerpts from the work of all the shortlisted artistes.
On the whole, eight awards were given away under four categories -- three for creative writing (English and Kannada), two for photography and one for music.
There were also two awards given away for short films, which was a new category that was introduced to honour the memory of Dr Sanat Kumar Ghosh.
The chief guest for the event was film-maker R V Ramani, who gave away the awards. 'Adam and the Fish Eyed Poets' from Chennai won the music award. The group also received a cash price of Rs 50,000. Niha Masih from New Delhi and Nikhil H Patel from Surat, won awards for thier contribution to photography.
While D M Kurke Prashanth from Bangalore won the creative writing award in Kannada, Anoop Sathyan from Thrissur won an award for his short film, 'A Dream Called America'.
This was then followed by the two awards that were given for creative writing in English. This went to Aditi Rao from Delhi for her poetry and Swetanshu Bora from Bangalore for his play Pagadi.
"When Iwrote this play, it was not really about winning. It was more about getting the message across. The award is a real booster not just monetarily, it also gives artistes like us recognition and encouragement to carry on with the good work," says Swetanshu, who's play focussed on the role history plays in a modern man's life.
Bangalorean Raam Reddy, who won an award for his Telugu short film Ika (Feather), says that the evening also proved to be a great opportunity to network with people and provided a good platform to showcase one's work.
"After the event, Iactually got opportunities to showcase my work in Mumbai as well. And now, I am encouraged to start working on a full-length feature film," he adds.
Looks like each one present at the function felt like a winner in their own way.