Chief Minister Oommen Chandy presented the Science Literature Awards instituted by the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) for the years 2011 and 2012, here on Friday.
“Prominence must be given to the propagation of technological development to help people in every sectors of society,” the Chief Minister said after presenting the awards. He said that the government was planning to set up an institute called ‘Centre for Assistive Technology’, to help visually-impaired people.
The winners of all four categories were presented with the award, which consisted of a citation, a certificate and a cash prize of Rs 25,000.
The best Children’s Literature titles for 2011 and 2012 were awarded to E N Sheeja (‘Ammoonte Swamtham Darwin’ ) and P R Madhava Panicker (‘Viralthumbile Velicham’) respectively.
S Santhi (‘Anyam Nilkunna Jeevikal’) and M N Sreedharan Nair (‘Kanabhauthikavum Daivakanavum’) were presented the awards for the best Popular Science Literature. In the category of Science Journalism, Anilkumar Vadavathoor and Sreekumar won the title respectively.
While K K Vasu received the award for ‘In-Depth Science Writing’ for his book ‘Minnalil Ninnu Raksha’, V D Selvaraj won a special award for Science Journalism.
KSCSTE executive vice-president V N Rajasekharan Pillai presided over the function. In his presidential address he said that science writing was as important as science research.
KSCSTE member-secretary K K Ramachandran, director George Varghese, joint director V Ajit Prabhu, media consultant A Prabhakaran and scientific officer Binuja Thomas spoke.