Taking place September 18 at Aria Banquet and Convention Centre in Surrey, the Red Carpet rolls out at 6.30pm which will see 700 of Vancouver’s top social and business elite in the South Asian community.
Recognized as the pre-eminent South Asian event-of-the-year, the spectacular red-carpet Awards gala will honour ten remarkable individuals within the South Asian community who embody the spirit of community and believe in giving back through their own avenues in an effort to build society.
Previous winners include:
· Nira Arora, Beat 94.5FM
· Belle Puri, CBC Broadcasting
· Hari Varshney, FCA and Philanthropist
· Fabian Dawson, Deputy Editor-in-Chief at The Province Newspaper
· Dr. Narinder Kapany, known as the “Father of Fibre Optics” for his scientific contributions that led to the creation of the internet, lasers, and medical imaging
Awards categories are:
ARTISTIC VISIONARY - extraordinary achievement as a South Asian in the field of art
INDUSTRY MARVEL - extraordinary achievements of a South Asian within an industry
COMMUNITY CRUSADER - extraordinary achievement of a South Asian as a leader who is giving back to the South Asian community
CORPORATE ENGAGEMENT - extraordinary achievement of a South Asian entrepreneur
BREAKING BARRIERS - extraordinary achievement of a South Asian who is breaking a new barrier and achieving a milestone
ADVANCING PHILANTHROPY - extraordinary achievement of a South Asian in many charitable ventures
HERITAGE DEFENDER - extraordinary achievement of a South Asian in overcoming adversity to represent South Asians
SPIRIT OF SPORT - extraordinary achievement of a South Asian athlete
YOUNG WONDER - extraordinary achievement of a South Asian young person in academia and community initiatives
INTERNATIONAL SENSATION - extraordinary achievement of a South Asian on a global scale
The event features an influential keynote speaker, local celebrities, sensational entertainment, a glamourous fashion showcase, and will be hosted by Canadian television personality and ET Now presenter Sangita Patel.
Named one of Hello! Canada Magazine’s ‘50 Most Beautiful People’ in 2014, Sangita Patel has become a familiar face on Canada’s leading entertainment show, Entertainment Tonight Canada. Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Patel joined ET Canada in early 2013.
Now as an entertainment reporter, she spends most of her time covering movie premiers, giving viewers a behind-the-scenes look into glamourous events like the Cannes Film Festival and interviewing Hollywood celebrities.
Throughout her career on television, she has been a part of TV shows such as Toronto Living, Rushes, Weather Network and Breakfast Television. She has been awarded Anokhi magazine’s TV personality of the year and is the recipient of Trailblazer Award at the Reelworld Film Festival.
This year’s keynote speaker will be the USB co-founder Ajay Bhatt. Bhatt, along with his team at Intel founded the Universal Serial Bus (USB) – a device found in billions of electronic devices all over the world today. Bhatt joined Intel Corporation in 1990 as a senior staff architect on the chipset architecture team in Folsom.
He is currently Intel’s Chief Architect and Fellow, Client Computing Group and credited as being the father of the USB standard. Beyond the USB, Bhatt has developed several widely used technologies, including Accelerated Graphics Port, PCI Express, Platform Power management architecture and various chipset improvements. He holds 34 US and International patents, and has received many awards for his work.
He won the Achievement in Excellence Award for his contribution in PCI Express specification development in 2002. He received The Light of India Award in 2012 for his contributions in advancement of science and technology.
In 2013, he was awarded the Outstanding Achievement in Science & Technology Award at The Asian Awards in London. He won the European Inventor Award 2013 for leading a team of computer experts at Intel that developed USB technology. Bhatt’s creation has helped the world connect better with each other. His achievements make him an inspirational figure for upcoming creators and youth.
Bhatt and the other winners of the coveted DARPAN Extraordinary Achievement Award are the reason why the Darpan Magazine publishers Gurvinder Hundal and Ramneek Dhillon created this platform to begin with back in 2009.
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The Awards strives for South Asians to get outside of themselves and do the extraordinary things that inspire the lives of others,” claims Mr. Hundal.
“We believe when individuals are empowered to succeed and their efforts showcased within our very own community, we all prosper.”
DARPAN publishes a bi-monthly South Asian lifestyle magazine called ‘Darpan’, a luxury South Asian wedding magazine called ‘Traditions’, and produces the DARPAN Extraordinary Achievement Awards.
