CHENNAI: The Rotary Club of Chennai Towers, part of the Rotary International District 3233, honoured individuals from a diverse spectrum at the Vocational Services Award 2025-2026 ceremony at Radisson Blu, Egmore on Thursday.
The event honoured individuals from different fields who transformed their careers to create social impact and who exhibit high ethical standards and professional skills.
Rotarian Satish Kandimalla said, “After a vigorous selection process, we shortlist the winners. The profiles include any Indian citizen, preferably from Tamil Nadu, who has done exceptional work in the field and society. Such awards will be a great recognition for the awardees and boost them to march forward. The selection process began in January. Being consistent in their work, vision or service is one of the essential criteria.”
Prasanna Kumar Motupalli, CMD of NLC India Limited, was the chief guest for the event. The stars of the evening include Leela Samson who received the Lifetime Achievement Award; Silambam exponent N Silambarasan became the young achiever in sports; the award for Social Service with Focus on Women Empowerment was feted to Selvakumar from Virudhunagar, who is popularly known as Tailor Bro for devoting his life to financially empower women using tailoring; cleanliness worker Padma received the Epitome of Ethics Icon award for her honesty in returning Rs 45 lakh worth gold to the owners; and Nimal Raghavan, the Lake Man of India won the Environmental Preservation award.
After receiving her award, Padmashri Leela Samson shared, “In the field of art, the journey is always long and tedious. Devotion towards work matters the most. At this moment, I would like to remember my guru, Rukmini Devi Arundale, founder of Kalakshetra. India’s art landscape is delicate but diverse. Art doesn’t belong to us alone. It is for everyone who is born in this country.”