The Indian Weekender Honours, aka Kiwi-Indian Hall of Fame, is where the rarest of rare, especially those who have contributed immensely to the community are honoured, at a platform which is considered the biggest formal-event of the Indian diaspora in New Zealand.
The rest of the community takes pride and inspiration from the Honours while showering their generous appreciation on those who eventually take home the Honours.
The Honours, which initially started with the Kiwi Indian Hall of Fame, has over the years incorporated the Young Achievers and Community Excellence Award, to reflect the community’s growing expectations and ambitions – the two cherished goals that The Indian Weekender has been pursuing relentlessly.
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The list of former Hall of Fame inductees is illustrious and includes the likes of MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi (2013), Judge Dr Ajit Swaran Singh (2014), Dr Kantilal Naranji Patel (2015) and Dr C.S. Benjamin (2016) and Sukhi Turner (2017), Dr Sharad Paul (2018), Sir Anand Satyanand (2019), Roshan Nauhria (2021),
The Kiwi Indian Young Achiever of the Year award recognises a young Kiwi-Indian (aged between 16 and 35) who has done exceptionally well in his/her field of work. The award was launched in 2015 and was bestowed upon DJ Charlie aka Prerna Singh in 2015, neuroscientist Dr Malvindar Singh-Bains in 2016, and budding politician Shail Kaushal in 2017, Muskan Devta (2018), Sarpreet Singh (2019), and Dr Gaurav Sharma, MP (2021).
The Community Excellence Award came into existence in 2017 realising a long-felt expectation within the community of recognising and facilitating some of the most dedicated personalities who have worked incessantly in the area of community service. The inaugural edition of this award went to Thakor Parbhu Singh, while in subsequent years went to well known faces of the community Jeet Suchdev, Harshad Patel and Anjum Rahman.
The brief description of awards as mentioned above will inform everyone that the basic DNA of The Indian Weekender Honours is recognition by the community and of the community.
Undeniably, the Honours are not mere recognition of a selected few by the community.
In fact, the Honours are also recognition of the Indian community in New Zealand when the crème de la crème of the country gets a first-hand experience of energy and vibrancy that our community brings to Kiwi life.
An exclusive red-carpet reception is rolled out to every guest at the event with flashing cameras, so as to make them feel like a celebrity.
The glamour and entertainment quotient of this annual event has always been the talk of the town, months after the awards night.
In 2017, Bollywood heartthrob singers Armaan and Amaal Malik and seasoned stand-up comedian from India, Amit Tandon, had been able to create a truly memorable night for those who attended the event. This overseas star-attraction was separate from the usual pool of talented local artists who delivered high-octane performances to keep guests glued to their seats.
The event also has an envious tradition of having the country’s Prime Minister as the chief guest of the event, along with the presence of many key politicians including the Leader of Opposition, Mayor of Auckland, Ministers of the Crown and Members of Parliament.
Not to forget, major community organisations like New Zealand Indian Central Association (NZICA), Auckland Indian Association, Indian Association of NZ, Shanti Niwas, Gandhi Niwas, Telangana Association, Auckland Tamil Association, Auckland Marathi Association, Bhartiya Samaj, Auckland Sikh Society, Hindu Council, and Punjabi Cultural Association have been graciously gracing the occasion.
In 2017, The Indian Weekender Honours reached new heights when Indian Union Minister of State for External Affairs, Gen. V. K. Singh, visited the country exclusively for this event, thus raising the profile of this premium diaspora event high up in the Indian government’s calendar of global diaspora events around the world.
Indeed, this was a great benchmark to just match, leaving aside the task of raising the benchmark in 2018 and beyond.
In the ensuing years, while on one hand the Indian Weekender stepped up the ante on the benchmark for the achievements of the new inductees in the Kiwi-Indian Hall of Fame, there was a never seen before push for achieving high production standards of the actual event night with world class audio-visual background and entertainment packages to deliver a world class event.
For many in the community, the Kiwi-Indian Hall of Fame may be an epitome of celebrating excellence in the community, yet the publisher and the team at The Indian Weekender are committed to put in their best efforts for the show and promise to bring another night to remember and cherish about.
The call for nominations is out now for the three categories—Kiwi Indian Hall of Fame, Kiwi Indian Young Achiever of the Year, and Kiwi Indian Community Excellence Award for the year 2022.
While our team works in the background to present another memorable award night, the community is on call for keeping an eye around to identify who they think would be worthy of the awards and nominate their names. The nomination form can be found at www.halloffame.co.nz. Just fill it in and submit (as per directions on the website).
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