Mangaluru : As many as six persons will be conferred with the prestigious ‘Sandesha Awards’ for the year 2015, for their achievement in various fields. The Sandesha Foundation for Culture and Education will confer the awards at Sandesha premises in Bajjodi, Mangaluru, on January 23.

The award winners are C Veeranna (Sandesha Literature Award), Jayamala Ramachandra (Sandesha Media Award), Henry D’Souza (Sandesha Konkani Music Award), Jayalaxmi Damle (Sandesha Best Teacher Award), Naveen D Padil (Sandesha Art Award) and Gopal Kharvi (Sandesha Special Recognition Award).

Addressing a press meet here on Saturday, Director Rev Fr Victor Vijay Lobo said that each award will carry a cash prize of Rs 10,000, citation, certificate and a trophy. Puttur Diocese Bishop Rev Fr Geevarghese Mar Divannasiyos will present the awards. Writer Boluvar Mohammed Kunhi, MLA J R Lobo, Mangalore Bishop Rev Fr Aloysius Paul D’Souza and Minister Ramanath Rai will be the chief guests.

The jury for the Sandesha awards were writer Na D’Souza, Richard Louis, Na Da Shetty, Sara Abubakkar, Chandrakala Nandavar and Eric Ozario.

C Veeranna was awarded doctorate for his writing ‘Kannada kavya Kanda hennu.’ He has held various offices in the Kannada Study Centre of Bangalore University. He was the Director of Prasararanga. He was also the state honorary secretary of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat. His two volume ‘Kannada Sahitya Charitre—Charitrika Belavanige’ presents history with sociological angle. He has done research in the field of Vachana sahitya. He has written several plays and was the founder President of Karnataka Sahitya Parishat.

Jayamala Ramachandra is a native of Dakshina Kannada and is a multi-lingual cine artiste. She has directed five films. She won special national award for her acting in ‘Tayisaheba.’ Her children’s film ‘Tuttoori’ has bagged national award. She was the first woman President of Karnataka Film Chamber.

Henry D’Souza was born at Basrikatte in Chikkamagaluru in 1943 and migrated to Mumbai in 1965, where he established himself as a singer- musician. Two Konkani songs written by him five decades ago— ‘Ye ye Katrina’ and ‘Ami Dogee Sezari’ have retained popularity even to this day. He has composed and directed more than 2,000 songs. He has sung more than 200 songs in Akashavani.

Jayalaxmi Damle is the headmistress of Sneha Educational Centre in Sullia. The school imparts holistic education. Every class in the school has a library. The students in this institute learn to nurture medicinal plants.

Naveen D Padil is an actor and is associated with Tulu theatre. He is a master of comedy and tragedy. He has acted in Tulu films like ‘Oriyardori Asal,’ ‘Amet Asal Eemet Kusal’ and so on.

Gopal Kharvi has achieved great feat by swimming 40 km in six hours in 2003. He swam and covered a distance of 3.7 km from St Mary’s island to Malpe with his hands and feet chained in just a matter of 2.43 hours and has entered Guinness World Record.