The Zee 24 Taas Ananya Sanman Awards 2008 ceremony was held at the Taj Crystal, Mumbai, on October 16.
The awards honoured 10 professionals from Maharashtra who have made significant contributions to their respective fields. The awards also honoured two common people who have done their bit to make the state proud.
Santosh Padhi, executive creative director, Leo Burnett, won the award for his work in the field of advertising.
The other fields in which the awards were given were Sports, Cinema, Literature, Fashion, Music, Farming, Business, Theatre and Social Reforms. The nominations for these categories were decided through research conducted by the Zee 24 Taas editorial team. Bharat Dabholkar, Bharat Kumar Raut, Jabbar Patel, Mrinal Kulkarni and Gautam Rajadhyaksha were the jury members.
Padhi was felicitated by Patang Rao Kadam, cooperative minister and state leader of the Congress party. Speaking to afaqs!, Padhi said, “Parents always applaud your work and so does your community. These people are not from the advertising industry, but still they recognise my work. So, it feels good.”
Padhi talks about his favourite work over the years and says, “Last year, my favourite work was the Luxor campaign. My favourites over the past years are the campaigns for McDonald’s and Tide.”
There are plans to make the Zee 24 Taas Ananya Sanman Awards (currently in its first year) an annual event recognising individuals from various professions.
For the record, Padhi has been with Leo Burnett since 1999 and will soon move out to start his own venture with Agnello Dias, chief creative officer, JWT.