Current Affairs - Awards In News

Every year, to encourage equal participation in ICT technologies, International Girls in ICT Day is celebrated on April 28.

• For girls and young women to thrive in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers, they need safe and reliable access to the internet and digital tools. That’s why, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) - the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies – ICTs has identified “Access and Safety” as the theme for Girls in ICT 2022.

The annual World Day for Safety and Health at Work on 28 April promotes the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases globally.

• It is an awareness-raising campaign intended to focus international attention on the magnitude of the problem and on how promoting and creating a safety and health culture can help reduce the number of work-related deaths and injuries.
• The World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2022 focuses on enhancing social dialogue towards a culture of safety and health.

• Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu conferred the International Gandhi Award for Leprosy, 2021 to Dr. Bhushan Kumar of Chandigarh and Sahyog Kushtha Yagna Trust, Gujarat.
• The annual award was instituted by Gandhi Memorial Leprosy Foundation.
• Both Dr. Bhushan Kumar and Sahyog Kushtha Yagna Trust have been working diligently to raise awareness about leprosy and in providing care to those afflicted with it.

One of the most prestigious literary awards ‘Saraswati Samman’ for the year 2021 will be conferred on poet and litterateur Prof Ramdarash Mishra for his collection of poems ‘Mein to Yahan Hun’.

• In ‘Mein to Yahan Hun’, the poet brings to the fore different aspects of inner life, societal concerns, communalism, corruption, human perspectives, exploitation of the Dalits, disquieting urban cities, exuberance of the seasons and climatic concerns.
• Born in Dumri village in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur district, Mishra has excelled in different branches of Hindi literature.
• In 1991, poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan was the first to receive this award.
• In 2020, Sharankumar Limbale, a Marathi language author, poet and literary critic was given this award for his novel "Sanatan".

About the Award

• The Saraswati Samman is an annual award instituted by KK Birla Foundation in 1991.
• It is given for outstanding literary works (prose or poetry) in any of the 22 languages of India listed in Schedule VIII of the Constitution of India.
• It is given to an Indian citizen and his works published within the last 10 years.

• The renowned Belgian hydrologist Wilfried Brutsaert was awarded the Stockholm Water Prize 2022 for his groundbreaking work to quantify environmental evaporation, helping to make accurate predictions of the impact that climate change has on local rainfall patterns and water sources.
• The Stockholm Water Prize is the world’s most prestigious water award. It is often described as the Nobel Prize of water.
• Since 1991, the Stockholm Water Prize has been awarded to people and organizations for extraordinary water-related achievements.
• The Prize is awarded by SIWI in cooperation with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and presented by H.M King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, who is the official patron of the Prize.

The 94th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films released between March 1 and December 31, 2021, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 27, 2022.

• During the ceremony, controversy ensued after actor Will Smith walked onstage and slapped comedian Chris Rock in the face. Rock had made a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

Notable Awards/Awardees

• Best Picture: CODA
• Best Actress: Jessica Chastain – The Eyes of Tammy Faye
• Best Actor: Will Smith – King Richard
• Best Director: Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog

Oscar 2022 & India

• At the 2022 Oscars, Delhi-based filmmaker duo Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh-directed 'Writing with Fire' lost out the Best Documentary Feature honour to 'Summer of Soul' (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)'.
• 'Writing with Fire' is Thomas and Ghosh's debut feature documentary about a newspaper 'Khabar Lahariya' started as a social experiment by an NGO. It's India's only rural newspaper run by Dalit women since 2002, started by Delhi-based NGO Nirantar from Chitrakoot in the Bundelkhand region.
• Previously, in 2009, India's AR Rahman had won the Academy Award for Best Original Score and Best Song ('Jai Ho') in 'Slumdog Millionaire'. The legendary Gulzar also bagged the Best Lyrics honour that same year.

Diébédo Francis Kéré has become the first African and the first black person to be awarded architecture’s highest international honour, the 2022 Pritzker Architecture Prize.

• Kéré was born in Burkina Faso, West Africa, and built his architectural practice designing schools and medical facilities that were most often built by local communities with minimal resources and a very careful selection of affordable and sustainable materials. It was this approach that led to his architecture firm receiving global recognition.
• In 2018, Indian architect Balkrishna Vithaldas won this award.

About Pritzker Prize

• The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.”
• Founded in 1979 by Jay A. Pritzker and his wife Cindy, the award is funded by the Pritzker family and sponsored by the Hyatt Foundation.
• It is considered to be one of the world's premier architecture prizes, and is often referred to as the Nobel Prize of architecture.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) held its annual film awards on 13th March 2022 at London's Royal Albert Hall.

Key Winners

• Best Film: "The Power of the Dog"
• Outstanding British Film: "Belfast"
• Director: Jane Campion, "The Power of the Dog"
• Leading Actor: Will Smith, "King Richard"
• Leading Actress: Joanna Scanlan, "After Love"

In order to acknowledge the efforts undertaken by the State Governments, Union Territory Administrations and various implementation agencies, the Ministry of Tourism has constituted Swadesh Darshan Awards in different categories.

The awards will highlight best practices including achievement of planned objectives, innovative approach, adoption of sustainability principals in planning, design and operations, efficient project monitoring, ability to attract private investments in peripheral development and efforts undertaken to ensure optimal operations and maintenance, etc.

To begin with, the Ministry of Tourism has decided to invite entries under the following categories:-

• i.Best Tourist Interpretation Centre
• ii.Best Log Hut Facility
• iii.Best MICE Facility
• iv.Best Cafeteria
• v.Best Craft Haat/ Souvenir Shop facility
• vi.Best Sound and Light Show
• vii.Best Waterfront Development (Beach/ River/ Lake etc.)

On 25^th January, 2022, on the eve of 73^rd Republic Day, Padma Awards were declared.

• The President has approved conferment of 128 Padma Awards including 2 duo case (in a duo case, the Award is counted as one) - 4 Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 107 Padma Shri Awards. 34 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 13 posthumous awardees.