Bengal to Birmingham - Durga Pujas to vie for global award

In the first effort to honour the best Durga Puja in the world, common people will vote online after watching photos and video clips of the pujas posted on the Net.

In corporate awards, a panel of celebrities go pandal hopping and select winners in a city, but here the judges are common people and the competition is global, organisers of the initiative, Large Durga Pujo Awards, said.

To take part in the programme, willing puja committees will have to do register themselves on, www.largedurgapujo.com and join the Facebook page, facebook.com/largedurgapujo.

The puja committees will upload all the details – themes, photographs and videos of various aspects of the puja before October 24, the last day of the four-day Puja, and then Netizens will elect the best ones in various categories.

"There will be awards in four categories – Most traditional yet modern puja, Best dressed idol, Best social impact and Best theme," Samrat Mukherjee, designer and developer, Large Durga Pujo Awards, told PTI.

A design which is modern yet made of traditional material or an old fashioned idol made of eco-friendly material will come under the Most traditional yet modern puja.

The way of celebration -- feeding street children or using solar power -- will make the social impact category, Mukherjee said, adding the other two categories are self explanatory.

"We intend to redress the grievances of Bengali Associations across the globe about their pujas not getting due recognition from puja related awards based in Kolkata," Mukherjee said.

"But From Naktala Udayan Sangho (in Kolkata) to New Jersey Bengali Association, from Mudiali (in Kolkata) to Manhattan, any puja can vie for the honour through online entries," he said.

The winners will be awarded with a trophy, a certificate and cash prize of Rs 25,000.

Matinee idol Dev was slated to visit London during the Pujas but the programme was cancelled.

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