Awaaz.De Named Sankalp 2013 Grand Prize Winner

Awaaz.De was honored as the Artha Platform Grand Prize winner of Sankalp Unconvention Summit 2013. The Sankalp Award is one of the most prestigious awards for social enterprises in India today. Over one hundred applicants were narrowed down to 26 finalists in 5 sectors. At this year’s Sankalp Conference, known as Sankalp Unconvention Summit, the finalists pitched to panels of investors and field experts to narrow down to five Sankalp Award winners. Another round of pitches led to one Grand Prize winner. This year, Awaaz.De was fortunate to be awarded the prize, which was generously provided by the Artha Platform. Here’s a video of our acceptance speech:

It was a great experience connecting with luminaries in the social enterprise space and getting feedback on Awaaz.De. Roshan, Bhaumik and myself learned much about where to take things next to make Awaaz.De an even more useful service (that’s another blog post :)).

Perhaps the best part of Sankalp is meeting and being inspired by so many innovative ventures trying to improve Indian society. The enthusiasm, creativity, and determination of the finalists and other social entrepreneurs was very encouraging. With prizes like this, it’s easy to look upon other organizations as competitors and to forget we are all working toward the same goals. But what makes this work fun and rewarding is doing it together with like-hearted people.

Being named this year’s winner is an honor, but we also take it as a responsibility. We will represent all organizations working for positive change in India as best we can. We hope we will make them proud and prove worthy of the recognition.