Published By: News Desk
News18.com
Last Updated: November 07, 2023, 12:52 IST
New Delhi, India
Regarded as the most credible viewer’s choice awards in India, this year, ‘Indian of the Year’ will recognise India’s most influential personalities across nine categories.
CNN-News18, India’s number one English news channel, has announced the highly anticipated 2023 edition of the ‘CNN-News18 Indian of the Year’ awards. Regarded as the most credible viewer’s choice awards in India, this year, ‘Indian of the Year’ will recognise India’s most influential personalities across nine categories.
The ‘Indian of the Year’ title will be awarded in categories such as Business, Sports, Entertainment, Youth Icon, Rising Sports Star, Social Change, and Climate Warriors. The selection process will be a blend of both expert judgment and public voting; with 50% of the decision-making power given to the audience, and the remaining 50% is entrusted to the jury, striking a balance between collective wisdom of the masses and the discerning eye of experts.
The distinguished panel of jurors includes renowned figures like screenwriter and lyricist Javed Akhtar, former Solicitor General of India Harish Salve, former athlete and Vice-President of Athletics Federation of India Anju Bobby George, chairperson of RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group Sanjiv Goenka and environmental activist and lawyer Afroz Shah.
Here are the contenders for ‘Indian of the Year 2023’ title:
Sports: Neeraj Chopra (Indian Track and Field Athlete), Nikhat Zareen (Indian Professional Boxer), Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty (Indian Badminton Players), Shubman Gill (Indian Cricketer), Sunil Chhetri (Captain, Indian Football Team)
Rising Sports Personality: Antim Panghal (Indian Professional Wrestler), Jyoti Yarraji (Indian Athelete), R Praggnanandhaa (Indian Chess Grandmaster), Shafali Verma (Indian Cricketer), Yashasvi Jaiswal (Indian Cricketer)
Business: Dinesh Kumar Khara (Chairperson of State Bank of India), Natarajan Chandrasekaran (Chairperson of Tata Sons), Sandeep Bakhshi (CEO of ICICI Bank), Sanjiv Puri (Managing Director of ITC), Sunil Vachani (Founder & Chairman Dixon Technologies)
Entertainment: Deepika Padukone (Indian Actress), Mani Ratnam (Indian Film Director), Manoj Bajpayee (Indian Actor), Shah Rukh Khan (Indian actor and film producer), Sunny Deol (Indian Actor)
Climate Warrior: Arun Krishnamurthy (Indian Environmental Activist), Atul Sati (Convenor of Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti), Dinesh Kumar Mishra (Convenor of Barh Mukti Abhiyan), Ridhima Pandey (Indian Environmental Activist), Saalumarada Thimmakka (Indian Environmentalist)
Social Change: Ravi Kannan R (Director and Surgical Oncologist, Cachar Cancer Hospital and Research Centre), Manju Shree Srivastava (Founding Trustee of Ekal Abhiyan), Menaka Guruswamy & Arundhati Katju (Senior Advocates at the Supreme Court of India), Pushpa Preeya (Indian scrivener), Sujit Chattopadhyay (Indian teacher)
Youth Icon: AP Dhillon (Indo-Canadian Singer, Rapper and Record Producer), Anirudh Ravichander (Indian music composer), Kusha Kapila (Social media personality, Comedian, actress, and YouTuber), Ranveer Allahbadia (YouTuber), Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju (Transgender Artist)
Elaborating on the channel’s marquee event, Zakka Jacob, Managing Editor, CNN-News18 said: “Over the past sixteen years, ‘CNN-News18 Indian of the Year’ awards have evolved into an unparalleled platform that reveres remarkable Indians across diverse domains. The massive success of this initiative and participation by some of the country’s most distinguished personalities has raised the bar for this platform making it one of the most accredited awards in the industry. A flagship event of this magnitude not only elevates our channel’s prestige but also generates immense value for the brands that partner with us.”
