MUMBAI: Union Ministers Smriti Irani and Kiren Rijiju, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, AAP leaders Kumar Vishwas and Alka Lamba, Congress leaders Deepender Singh Hooda and Mausam Noor, and Apna Dal MP Anupriya Patel are in the running as youth icons nominated for India TV Yuva Awards to be presented this year.
The names of winners will be announced at an event on 18 April at Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi.
India TV Yuva awards are given away every year to youth icons, who have demonstrated exemplary leadership in their respective fields. The awards will be in six categories: politics, sports, music, films, television and business. The awards were instituted in 2013 to honour the most promising young faces of the nation.
In the Sports category, those in the running among males include Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan (all cricketers) and Vijay Kumar (Olympian shooter), while among females Saina Nehwal (badminton), Deepika Pallikal (squash), P V Sindhu (badminton) and Geeta Phogat (wrestler) have been nominated.
Among the Bollywood youth icons, those nominated include Arjun Kapoor, Siddharth Malhotra, Sushant Singh Rajput and Varun Dhawan in the male category, while Anushka Sharma, Sonam Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha and Parineeti Chopra have been nominated among female actors.
In the small screen category, Mohit Raina, Gautam Gulati, Rajat Tokas and Ashish Sharma have been nominated among male actors, whereas Digangana Suryavanshi, Drashti Dhami, Pooja Gaur and Sanaya Irani figure among female TV actors nominated as youth icons.
Singers Arijit Singh, Javed Ali, Benny Dayal, Joi Barua and Papon have been nominated in music category (male), while Shilpa Rao, Kanika Kapoor, Monali Thakur and Palak Muchhal have been nominated as female icons in Music.
In the Business section, Rahul Sharma (Micromax), Kunal Behl (Snapdeal), Bhavish Aggarwal (Ola!) and Peyush Bansal (Lenskart) have been nominated among male icons, while Avani Davda (Tata Starbucks), Priya Nair (Hindustan Unilever), Neha Kirpal (India Art Fair) and Radhika Ghai Aggarwal (ShopClues) are in the running in female category.
The nominations have been made through a stringent process involving recommendations by the editorial board, followed by a stratified research by a research partner C-Voter and subsequently decided upon by the grand jury led by Sarod maestro Ustaad Amjad Ali Khan.
The jury includes noted personalities like Prasoon Joshi, Vandana Luthra, Prof. Pushpesh Pant and India TV chairman & editor-in-chief Rajat Sharma.
Speaking about the awards, India TV MD and CEO Ritu Dhawan said, “It is these young achievers of our nation who will most certainly be amongst those who will lead our country to greater heights in the near future. These rising stars, despite their young age, are the shining icons of Gen Y. Yuva Awards is a humble attempt by India TV to encourage the spirit of excellence and inspire fellow Indians.”
