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52nd Annual Awards: Elite Award Winners 2011

Date: 19th October 2012
Venue: Crystal Room, Hotel Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Opposite Gateway of India, Mumbai

Communicator of the Year
Mr. Deepak Morada |

He personifies the power and precision of L&T machines. He also reflects the grace and grandeur of this blue-chip company. And he approaches the functions of corporate communications with the incisive eye of a QC engineer.

After all, QC was one of the many rungs Mr. Deepak Morada climbed on his way to the top. Currently vice president corporate brand management & communications, he is the company's brand custodian, monitoring the way the brand is used across the world.

He built his career on the solid foundation of shopfloor experience acquired way back in 1977. Very soon, he rewrote shopfloor practices by accelerating schedules, enhancing quality and adding value. From manufacturing he moved on to marketing, displaying the same level of practical brilliance and strategic insight. His next posting was to Goa. Here, in the land of sea, sun and sand, he added another 's' - 'sales'. He rebooted the company's sales effort and shook-up sleepy sales figures into a new vigour.

Most recently as head of corporate communications he masterminded a new corporate identity program using entirely in-house resources. He developed a brand manual that is widely acknowledged to be as good as the best in the world.

Today, he is both architect and champion, sentinel and devotee of brand L&T.

  • For creating a corporate identity program that conforms to best global practices
  • For bringing the stringent methods of quality control into the process of communication
  • And for successfully leveraging communications to establish an image that adds luster to the organization

ABCI is proud to present...

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Communicator of the Decade
Mr. Maxim Behar |

There are 50 sovereign states in Europe. But only one reigning prince of PR: Maxim Behar.

The kaleidoscope of his achievements more than dazzle the continent. His clients see him as The Maverick... The Maestro... and the Monarch of communications - M3 Communications - his company that has, since inception, been adding new latitudes and longitudes to his ever-expanding reign.

He weaves his magic across a vast spectrum: sectors like energy, finance, technology, FMCG, etc., in countries across the European continent and beyond. His work is the magic carpet that flies him from one milestone to another. Even as a student in 1981, he acquired his stripes as a reporter to become eventually Bulgaria's most influential journalist and managing editor for Standard Daily.

In 1994 the tiger roared in a new territory - public and media relations with M3 Communications. In 2003 he established Bulgaria's fully licensed institute for public communications studies - M3 Communications College that has an affiliation with New York's Manhattan Institute of Management.

He has also been serving as a bridge for business between the US and Bulgaria with his consultancy MB Strategies since 2003. The rainbow of his reach spreads far and wide. Starting at his hometown Sofia, in Bulgaria and spanning nations around the world. On any given day Mr Behar can be found busy, either in a tete-a-tete with local businessmen or dining with diplomats and world leaders.

  • For making industries across the board and across Europe realize the power of communications...
  • For setting new benchmarks in the art and science of communications
  • And for combining PR, marketing and advertising most successfully...

ABCI is proud to present...

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Excellence in Business Journalism
Mr. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha |

Most journalists report the news. Here's one journalist who goes a step further and makes news. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha. The man who pens our daily dose of Café Economics, the column that is brewed with new insights and a never-before freshness in its approach.

He is also known as the man who brought a new flavour in business journalism through the tabloid Mint. Readers were turning to Mint for stories that lingered on their tongues, refreshed their minds and expanded their net-worths. Mint boasted incisive analysis of global financial trends and superlative scrutiny of the investment landscape.

Coming from a family of intellectuals, Mr Rajadhyaksha has always had an academic bent of mind with an enduring fascination for economics. After graduation he did MA and is currently pursuing a doctorate in the subject. His writings have been published in Wall Street Journal, Euromoney and Knowledge@Wharton. He has also authored the book Rise of India. His hugely popular column 'Café Economics' was voted the 'Best Column in Asia' by the Society of Publishers in Asia at its annual SOPA awards for two years in a row. Today he adds another crown.

  • For bringing a youthful freshness in business journalism
  • For successfully establishing and sustaining a connect with readers through his columns
  • For constantly seeking newer horizons in the otherwise staid field of economics

ABCI is proud to present...

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Excellence in Financial Communications
Mr. K. R. Kamath |

He has the most unique combination of qualities that we can find in a banker: the equanimity of a yogi, the patience of a farmer and the persistence of a scientist. Topping this combination are his exceptional communication skills. He demonstrated all these qualities in the course of a long and fruitful innings that began in 1977.

Since that decisive year, India's financial sector was to see the rise and rise of one of the brightest banking talents of our time - Mr. K. R. Kamath.

Mr Kamath's career graph has always been on the ascent, marked by personal accomplishments simultaneously with organizational milestones. In Corporation Bank he implemented core banking solutions, innovated with Alternate Delivery Channels, and won some coveted awards from IRBT and IBA.

He joined Punjab National Bank in 2009 as the chairman and Managing Director and since then this bank has seen significant breakthroughs in its operations and marketing efforts. Wherever Mr Kamath goes the awards must follow. PNB was adjudged 'Best Public Sector Bank' in 2010, it won 'Best Bank Award in 2011, the Overall Most Productive Public Sector Bank, the Most Socially Responsive Bank and many more such accolades from peer groups as well as independent media surveys. Today, he takes home one more award.

  • For the exemplary leadership skills with which he motivates his team to achieve challenging goals
  • For being a game changer in the truest sense of the term, by initiating key changes in operations and governance that proved to be most effective
  • For initiating the Organizational Transformation and Business Excellence Program in PNB

ABCI is proud to present...

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Global Business Communicator
Dr. James Gillies |

Some people can teach elephants to dance. Here's someone who does even better. He's teaching nuclear physics to do a Bollywood number!

He learnt his craft at the city of dreamy spires - Oxford. After a doctorate in physics, he turned his passion for physics into a profession and joined CERN - the spaceship that voyaged into the universe within. As this nuclear research organization advanced from one scientific milestone to another he told the world its story. He not only demonstrated superlative acumen as a man of science, he also proved to be a communicator par excellence. As a spokesman he simplified the most complex of scientific phenomena and got the world interested in his organisation's work. Between projects like the Large Electron Positron Collider to the Large Hadron Collider, the world's eye remained riveted on the CERN lab in Europe. The LHC First-Beam campaign attracted close to one billion viewers from around the globe. It was extensively covered by virtually all publications, TV channels and other media of the world.

In between professional assignments he also wrote the bestseller for the brainy 'How The Web Was Born'. From writing a book to giving the big bang a voice, Dr. James Gillies has done it all.

  • For outstanding success in demystifying science and making it accessible to the general public...
  • For sustaining public interest in various projects and progress of his organization...
  • And for demonstrating consistent excellence in communications for an organization that has taken science to unexplored frontiers...

ABCI is proud to present...

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Strategic Business Communicators
Mr. Ajit Balakrishnan |

Mr. Ajit Balakrishnan sees business as a game of football. You dodge opponents. You stay on the ball. You play fair. And you play to win. More importantly, you must also get a kick out of playing the game!

His impressive score in the business arena proves conclusively that his unique approach paid off. Rediffusion - the ad agency that he co-founded went on to become India's leading advertising agency and a hot-house for creativity. And his Rediff.com now ranks among India's most successful Internet companies.

Two companies that fructified his lifelong passion for communications. But these goals would never have come about, had he followed his first dream and passion: football.

As a sincere but football-crazy 10year old, Ajit had but one persisting dream - to become a football star. He even decided to drop out of school to pursue that goal. But thanks to his father's practical yet encouraging advice young Ajit was marching back to school. And on towards greater goals and conquests in his adult years.

From a B.Sc in Physics from Kerala University to an MBA from IIM Calcutta and later an Executive Educational program in Harvard; from partnering the modest-sized computer business PSI in 1984 to creating the Action Station microcomputer; from running Rediffusion to ensuring Rediff.com stays in the Web spotlight; from publishing his inspirational memoir 'The Wave Rider' to chairing a committee set up by the IT ministry, Government of India...Mr Balakrishnan has played the game fair and square.

  • For setting new standards of creative excellence in the advertising business
  • For steering his Internet company to success, past numerous obstacles and opponents every step of the way
  • And for never forgetting the rules of the game.

ABCI is proud to present...

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Life Time Achievement Award
Mr. Anthony Good |

He is the comet that propelled PR companies on a blazing trail of fame and fortune. He is the spark that ignited powerful minds in the business. He is the living-breathing history of public and media relations in the world. He is the man we are most fortunate to have good relations with. Mr. Anthony Good.

The most enduring figure in PR is also the most inspiring. With over half a century of experience behind him, with initiatives and innovations and his charismatic personality he has achieved the kind of success that is difficult to surpass. He created the world's first PR agency to be listed on the London Stock Exchange. Mr Good's work is all about scale, all about doing things larger than life. We speak of networking. He establishes Good Relations, his company, around the world. Through Good Relations and his clients, he remains well connected to decision-makers and influential leaders from around the world, especially India. A true friend of India, he is currently regarded as a business catalyst between our nation and the UK. He also has an enduring fascination for our country, flying here every so often. So far, he has made 377 trips, and counting.

  • For elevating the role of PR and making people see it as a powerful tool for business
  • For demonstrating the investor-worthiness of the business to the world
  • For introducing India Inc. to the business of public and media relations

ABCI is proud to present...

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Life Time Achievement Award
Mr. Shyam Benegal |

When a giant steps into the pool of collective consciousness, he is sure to stir up a wave. Shyam Benegal proved to be every bit the giant with his path-breaking first films in the 1970s: Ankur, Nishant, Manthan and Bhumika. These films triggered a new wave in Indian cinema. Suddenly viewers seemed to have developed a new hunger for meaningful, insightful cinema.

His work inspired many more ambitious film-makers to tread the unbeaten path. But Benegal, the towering talent, pointed to newer horizons every time. Whether it was documentaries, TV commercials, feature films or television programs, he scaled new heights every time. He was the only film maker of the genre in the 1980s who sustained viewer interest long after the curtains came down on the New Cinema movement.

The film Manthan is an incredible example of not only his popularity but also the success of his extraordinary communication skills. The film was entirely funded by Gujarat's dairy farmers who contributed nothing more than Rs.2 each!

Benegal achieved the kind of glory that completely overshadowed the relevance of box-office success. Awards and recognition came in from around the world: Berlin, Moscow, Cannes,...An ever-growing list of national film festival awards, topped with the Padma Shri in 1976, the Padma Bhushan in 1991 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2005.

He shared his craft and unique vision with aspiring film-makers by teaching at the Film & Television Institute, Pune for seven years followed by two tenures as chairman of the institute. Benegal is like the maverick painter who not only wants to rearrange the colors of the rainbow but actually succeeds in doing so.

  • For exploring new frontiers in story-telling with the craft of film-making.
  • For using cinema as a medium to bring about social change.
  • For nurturing new talent in various departments of the craft.

ABCI is proud to present...

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