Mangaluru: Beary Academy awards to be presented on April 16

Mangauru, Apr 14: The Karnataka Beary Sahitya Academy will confer its Annual Honourary Awards for 2015 on three eminent personalities including one non-Indian resident and special awards on two other achievers this weekend.

In a press release issued here on Thursday Academy chairman BA Mohammed Haneef said that the awards would be presented in a ceremony on April 16 at 4:45 p.m. at Town Hall in the presence of Kannada and culture minister Umashree, district in-charge minister B Ramanath Rai among others.

The names of award winners were announced in January this year. Abu Dhbai based philanthropist Mohammed Ali Uchil, Bengaluru-based Kannada journalist BM Haneef and artist Mohammed K Matha were for the Honourary Awards.

While Mr Uchil is being honoured for his contributions towards Beary culture and organisation, Mr. Haneef is being honoured in the field of language and literature and Mr. Matha in the field of art.

Apartment from them, Kannada writer Yaqoob Khader Gulwadi was chosen for Dr Wahhab Doddamane memorial award and Beary-Kannada writer Maryam Ismaeel was chosen P Sushila Upadhyaya memorial Beary woman award, he said.

Brief introduction of award winners:

Mohammed Ali Uchil
Born in a traditional Beary family on 1st June 1957, he rose to fame among NRIs in United Arab Emirates after becoming the president of Bearys Welfare Forum (BWF)-Abu Dhabi.

Apart from promoting Beary language, culture and tradition in the Gulf, BWF is well-known for its charity works in coastal Karnataka.

Anti-dowry campaign, mass wedding of around 85 couple in different occasions, distribution of wheel chair for physically challenged people, construction of toilets for the poor families, distribution of educational scholarships are some of the contributions of BWF under the leadership of Mr Uchil in coastal Karnataka.

BM Haneef

Bellayaru Mohammed Haneef was born on December 12, 1961 in coastal Karnataka. Obtained his B.Com degree from Govinda Dasa College, Surathkal and started his journalistic career through Mungaru Kannada daily when he was perusing LLB at SDM College in Mangaluru.

In 1989 he joined Prajavani Kannada daily as a sub-editor and worked for the same news paper as a reporter in different parts of Karnataka.

He was later promoted as assistant editor of Prajavani. For the past four years he has been working as the chief of Sudha Kannada weekly.

He is one of the popular Kannada journalists in Karnataka and known for his articles on current affairs, stories and poems. An advocate of Beary language promotion, he played a key role in the establishment of Karnataka Beary Sahitya Academy.

Moammed K Matha

MK Matha is a popular name in Sandalwood. For past 16 years he has been working in Kannada film and television industry as a director, actor and story writer.

He has acted in Kannada, Tamil and Tulu movies. Bagged award for his role in Tulu film Gaggara.