CNN-IBN Indian of the Year Awards 09 adheres to the Unparalleled Selection Process and Distinguished Jury
~The selection process goes through a credible multi-pronged approach~

New Delhi, December 5th, 2009: CNN-IBN Indian of the Year Awards marks a landmark event recognizing Indians who have contributed in a meaningful development towards building the brand India. The awards to undergo An elaborate four-tier process with a six member jury who will take an in-depth look and will deliberate on the categories, criteria and on the work done from these Indians. The Jury comprises of well-known personalities drawn from different walks of life, include eminent citizens like Padma Vibhushan - Soli Sorabjee, Padma Bhushan - Deepak Parekh, Padma Bhushan - Ramachandra Guha, Padma Shri - Ms. Shobhana Bhartia, Padma Shri - Mr. Geet Sethi, and Padma Shri - Mr. Mohanlal V. Nair.

The rigorous and credible evaluation process is an elaborate four-tier process that will be consistently followed while selecting the winners. The steps involved in the four-tier process include

Tier – 1: The Editorial Board
The IBN18 Editorial board including Raghav Bahl (Managing Director TV18), Rajdeep Sardesai (Editor-in-Chief, IBN18 Network), Ashutosh Editor IBN7, Nikhil Wagle Editor IBN Lokmat, in consultation with Editorial board of Hindustan Times, are responsible for generating the initial first list of nominations.

Tier – 2: The Jury
The Jury, constituting of eminent Indians who are all recipients of India’s highest state honours like Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shree ratify the final list of nominees for each category.

Tier – 3: The Electoral College
The Electoral College constitutes over 100 contemporary Indians who are extraordinary performers in their own fields - politics, bureaucracy, defence, academics, corporate, entertainment, sports, science, literature people who are primarily the intelligentsia of the country with some names like Lord Meghnad Desai, Sunil Gavaskar, Javagal Srinath Nafisa Ali, Yuvraj Singh, Rahul Dravid, Kris Srikkanth, Chanda Kochhar, Arvind Kejriwal, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Amar Singh, Abhishek Manu Singhvi etc.

Tier – 4: The Citizens Vote
Viewers and citizens can cast their votes for their favourite sports nominee by logging on to www.indianoftheyear.com - a specially created micro site for the awards. Can also vote through SMS by typing IOTY to 51818 and can call through IVRS on 5051818 and on 1255518(for MTNL mobile, BSNL mobile & landline users). Voting closes on 11th December mid night.

The Vote Weightage
The vote weightage is divided equally between Citizens Vox Populi & the Electoral College. i.e. 50% Citizens Vox Populli and 50% Electoral College.

The Selection of the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2009
After the above process has determined the six individual winners of all six categories, the jury members conduct painstaking research on the eminent personalities in each category and then mutually decide who amongst the six will be the final winner – ‘CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2009’

Speaking on the occasion of its announcement, Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-Chief, IBN18 Network said, “I thank the eminent jury members and the members of the electoral college for being the part of these awards and the entire selection process. The team CNN-IBN takes immense pleasure to organize these awards and salute the Indians who have left an indelible mark with the depth of their vision and helped make a concrete difference to the lives of fellow Indians with their dynamism"

About Network 18
Network18 [BSE: 532798,NSE: Network18] is one of India's leading full play media conglomerates with interests in television, print, internet, filmed entertainment, mobile content and allied businesses. Through its holding in Television Eighteen India Ltd (TV18) [BSE: 532299, NSE: TV-18], Network18 operates India’s leading business news television channels, CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz. It also runs one of India’s largest Internet players - Web18, as well as one of India’s leading real time financial information and news terminals - Newswire18. TV18 has recently expanded into print with Infomedia18, a newly formed entity following the acquisition of Infomedia, India's leading player in the special interest publishing and printing operations space.TV18 has also announced a collaboration with Forbes media for the launch of a business magazine in India. Through its holding in ibn18 Broadcast Ltd (ibn18) [BSE: 532800,NSE: ibn18], Network18 operates in the general news and entertainment space with leading general news channels CNN-IBN and IBN7 and has launched IBN Lokmat, a Marathi news channel in partnership with the Lokmat group. ibn18 also operates a joint venture with Viacom, called Viacom18 which houses the MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon channels in India - as also Studio18, the Group’s filmed entertainment operation and has launched ‘Colors’, a Hindi general entertainment channel. Additionally, Network18 holds the Group’s online & on-air home shopping venture, Homeshop18 and its full spectrum events management venture, E18.

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