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Dear Friend,We cordially invite you to the THT Awards Ceremony to be held from 10.30 am on Sunday, October 25th, 2026 at the Arkay Convention Centre, Mylapore, Chennai 600004.
The following Awards will be presented:
- The V Venkayya Epigraphy Award 2026 will be conferred posthumously on Late Dr C Somasundara Rao, eminent Telugu epigrapher and historian, for his significant contributions to the field of Epigraphy. The Award will be received by Ms Surya Lakshmi, daughter of the awardee.
- The THT Prof. S Swaminathan Heritage Award 2026 will be presented to M Udhaya Sankar for his contributions to strengthening our existing knowledge base of heritage assets and resources and deepening the general public’s knowledge of Indian heritage.
The Awards Ceremony will be followed by the Award Lecture by M Udhaya Sankar on “கல்வெட்டும் கணினியும்”. The talk will be in Tamil.
Please join us in person for this event.
You can also watch the event here: https://youtube.com/live/TqcK45MzLM0
With warm regards
Tamil Heritage Trust
About the awardee - Dr C. Somasundara Rao :
Dr C. Somasundara Rao was a distinguished historian and epigraphist whose career has been devoted principally to the study of Andhra history, epigraphy, palaeography and numismatics. He served in the Department of History & Archaeology at Andhra University from 1963, becoming a Professor in 1985 and continuing as a Guest Faculty member until 2002.
His work has contributed significantly to making Andhra epigraphy accessible to students and non-specialists. His Inscriptions of Andhra Pradesh (2014 and 2024) traces the evolution of Telugu script from Brahmi through the Telugu-Kannada tradition, while the second edition adds extensive treatment of medieval chronograms and nearly 700 examples of numeral terminology and their corresponding Saka dates. His other major books include Studies in Andhra History and Culture (2019).
Dr Rao has received the C.H. Biddulph Medal (1991) and the Mallampalli Somasekhara Sarma Memorial Award (2014).
About the V Venkayya Epigraphy Award
The one-of-a-kind award was instituted by Smt. Sunitha Madhavan, great-granddaughter of Shri V Venkayya. The Award commemorates Rai Bahadur Shri V Venkayya, a pioneering Epigrapher who was the first Indian Chief Epigraphist to the Government of India.
The annual V Venkayya Epigraphy Award (VVE Award) aims to recognise exceptional individual contributions, in any Indian language, towards the discovery of unrecorded inscriptions, interpretation of inscriptions from a refreshingly new perspective, dissemination of the wealth of knowledge contained in them by conventional as well as digital media, and preservation of epigraphic resources for posterity.
The recipient is selected by a jury consisting of experts in epigraphy, history, archaeology, and heritage.
About the awardee Udhaya Sankar
Udhaya Sankar (Udhayan) works as a 3D graphic designer and masonry estimator at a private organization. Outside his professional career, Udhayan has been a pioneering cultural archivist dedicated to open‑source digital archiving, cultural informatics, and computational preservation of Tamil heritage.
Over the last 17 years, Udhayan has made remarkable contributions to the preservation and digitization of Tamil heritage. His work includes field documentation of 90+ hills and caves, photographic archiving of nearly 200 temples, the creation of a comprehensive Tamil inscription database and epigraphic dictionary, and the engineering‑precision digitization of 5000+ Kolam designs.
Through his platform Udhayam.in, he has developed a digital archive of over 2,000 Tamil inscriptions. He has also revived ancient Tamil‑Brahmi script through the Adinatha Font and developed experimental heritage‑inspired typefaces.
He has been recognized by institutions such as REACH Foundation, Madurai Corporation, Madurai Digitall and Chola History Research Association for his contributions to heritage.
About the THT Prof S Swaminathan Heritage Award
The Award instituted by THT, and now in its seventh year, aims to honour the work of individuals under the age of fifty who have made significant contributions to deepening the general public’s knowledge of Indian heritage, widening the audience for heritage appreciation, and in the process strengthening our existing knowledge base of heritage assets and resources.
The award is named after Prof S. Swaminathan, retired Professor from IIT-Delhi and co-founder of the Tamil Heritage Trust, whose books, monographs and talks on many facets of India’s heritage continue to be a source of inspiration for heritage enthusiasts.
The winner is picked by a distinguished jury from among the several nominations received.
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Event venue
Arkay Convention Center, Oms Lakshana Building 146, Royapetta High Road, Luz, Mylapore, Chennai 600004, India, Chennai
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