Awards & honors, 2nd quarter 2014

The C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyar Foundation, Animal Welfare Board of India, and Winsome Constance Kindness Trust on March 23, 2014 saluted the students of the Shri B.S. Mootha School in Chennai for presenting the best Kindness Kids program in a contest involving 17,000 children in four cities of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh states, India.

About 8,000 children participated in Chennai, 6,000 in Hyderabad, 2,200 in Ooty, and 1,250 in Gudalur.

“This is the third year of this program, which now covers about 50 schools per city,” C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyar Foundation president Nanditha Krishna told ANIMALS 24-7. “In 2012-13 we did six cities. It is carried out in four phases. First we hold teachers’ orientation workshops. Then we distribute materials and put up posters at the participating schools. We revisit the schools to give the students activities to carry out and conduct competitions, and then honor the changers and achievers. It is structured so that we can monitor it at every stage. My son Prashanth is supervising the whole program.” Prashanth Krishna’s father and Nanditha Krishna’s husband since 1964 is longtime Blue Cross of India chief executive Chinny Krishna.

Dereck & Beverly Joubert. (Great Plains Conservation photo)

Filmmakers Beverly and Dereck Joubert on April 5, 2014 were honored for lifetime achievement at the South African Film & Television Awards ceremonies in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Acquainted since attending high school together in Johannesburg, the Jouberts have produced 25 films over the past 30 years, primarily for the National Geographic Society, and have invested much of their profits in the National Geographic Big Cats Initiative, a conservation grant program they founded.

“At present it funds over 34 grants in 17 countries, including on–the–ground conservation projects, education, economic incentive efforts and a global public awareness campaign,” said publicist Caroline Graham.

The Jouberts’ 2011 film The Last Lions, made in Botswana, received five awards at the 2013 International Wildlife Film Festival in Missoula, Montana. Earlier films, including Eternal Enemies: Lions & Hyenas, Eye of the Leopard, Living With Big Cats, and Big Cat Odyssey, received seven Emmy awards and helped to earn the Jouberts several previous lifetime achievement awards.