MUMBAI: At a gala ceremony in Mumbai attended by the entire travel and trade fraternity, winners of this year‘s CNBC AWAAZ Travel Awards 2008 were felicitated for their outstanding contribution towards the Indian travel and tourism industry. The CNBC Awaaz Travel Awards 2008 supported by Incredible India, was graced by, Union Minister for Tourism & Culture - Ambika Soni, focused on honouring some of the people and companies behind the year‘s best travel products and services.

The CNBC AWAAZ Travel Awards 2008 announced results of India‘s most comprehensive travel trade poll to celebrate the enormous achievements of the Indian travel and tourism industry for which some of the biggest players from the industry attended. The Awards also hosted representatives from the travel trade bodies, various state tourism boards, as well as domestic and international airlines.

CNBC AWAAZ along with research organization ‘The Nielson Company‘ conducted a thorough research and selected categories depending on the various services available and provided to the discerning traveler. This year‘s Travel Awards 2008 includes 3 new categories namely Best Weekend Getaways, Airline with Best Business Class and Best International Airline, in addition to the Best Travel Destinations in India as well as International, Best Travel Operators, Best Airline, Best Beaches, Best Weekend Destinations, Best Religious Destinations, Best Managed Historical Monuments, Best Destination for Adventure Sports, Best Leisure and Business Hotels among others, bringing the total number of categories to 19 this year.

Mr. Neel Chowdhury, Vice President -Marketing, CNBC TV18 & CNBC AWAAZ said, CNBC AWAAZ takes pride in the comprehensive and detailed process of research methodology which has been used for these awards. India, today is one of Asia-Pacific‘s powerhouses in the global tourism arena; hence CNBC AWAAZ has taken this initiative to acknowledge the cream of the Indian tourism industry and we are proud to support the best in class and help increase their brand profile.

MUMBAI: Enthralling Radio Cityzens across the nation with ‘Whatte Fun‘ melodies, Brand Radio City 91.1 FM marked its 7th successful anniversary. On July 3, 2008, Radio City 91.1FM, the nation‘s premiere melody FM station completed 7 melodious years in India. Surpassing mere entertainment, the station has carried forward its pledge to offer a melodious journey for sheer listener delight over the last seven years. Reiterating this commitment, Radio City stations across 20 markets commemorated this momentous occasion in great style along with listeners through a diverse array of interactive activities.

Speaking on the milestone, Ms. Apurva Purohit, CEO, Radio City 91.1FM said, "Our seven years entertaining the nation have been a much cherished milestone! Our melodious span over the last 7 years has flourished with each step leading to our robust presence across 20 cities in India. Breaking through the clutter of cacophony, we have time and time again, lived true to our promise to offer listeners a truly enriching and differentiated musical experience, thus ensuring an instant connect with listeners nationwide."

Ms. Purohit added, "Commemorating our anniversary across markets, the Radio City family extends its gratitude to its listeners for their steadfast support and for making us their FM station of choice! It is the feedback and patronage that our listeners share, which inspires us to keep reinventing ourselves and maintain our competitive edge. We are certain that with the best wishes of our listeners, we will continue to scale higher dimensions every year. It is with this mindset that we look forward to sharing many more anniversary celebrations with all our fellow listeners and associates across India."

The Radio City 91.1FM team celebrated the station‘s 7th National Anniversary through a Grand Bash in Mumbai on July 3, 2008. Also joining Radio City employees and their families in this celebration, were well-wishers, ex-employees and competition who stepped forth to make this milestone all the more special and memorable. The FM brand also conducted the national ‘Radio City Annual Awards 2008 - City ka Sitara‘ in recognition of excellence and outstanding contribution across functions. This witnessed the FM brand rewarding the efforts of all employees, who in their own way, contributed to reach this momentous 7 year mark.

Delhi‘s Radio City 91.1FM celebrated the Radio City Anniversary in a grand fashion. Revolving their content around the magical number ‘7‘, the station hosted seven innovative theme contests. Adding on, Delhi‘s Radio Cityzens got to meet their favourite RJs at popular hangouts across Delhi and win candles in the shape of ‘7‘ along with balloons of vibrant Radio City colours!

Extending the Anniversary celebrations to listeners, Jaipur‘s Radio City 91.1FM hosted a special Dinner for select lucky couples who were identified through the "Happy Anniversary Radio City 91.1" contest. The couples got to meet their favourite Radio City RJs where all present cut a specially-designed Seven Step cake.

Starting July 3, Lucknow‘s Radio City 91.1FM inaugurated the ‘Radio City Fan Mela‘ - a unique interactive platform especially reaching out to the FM‘s stations loyal listeners who‘ve been dedicatedly tuning in to 91.1FM over the last 7 years.

Celebrating the anniversary in absolute ‘Whatte Fun‘ style, Surat‘s Radio City 91.1FM hosted a beautiful cake cutting ceremony for listeners in studio with the RJs. Adding excitement to the activity was the presence of the Mayor of Surat - Mr. Ranjeet Gilitwala who stepped in to celebrate this special day with the FM station. As a first of its kind initiative, Surat‘s Radio City 91.1FM created a special Wall of Fame wherein thousands of listeners from all across Surat flocked to inscribe their wishes, feedback, autographs and testimonials. The FM station also launched a one-of-its-kind Gujarati Feature Pinakin Shah for the first time on Surat‘s Radio City 91.1FM.

Continuing with the celebrations Nagpur‘s Radio City 91.1FM hosted an Exclusive Movie Screening for its listeners at Inox. The screening was followed by a Grand Cake Cutting Ceremony wherein a seven feet long cake was cut by the Radio City team comprising RJ‘s Vicky, Tia, Sunny and Sana. This ‘Whatte Fun‘ celebration was taken a step further with the on-air contest ‘911 dikhaao cash le jao‘. Listeners participated on-air through SMS vote-ins and shared their birthday wishes with their favourite FM station.

Coimbatore‘s Radio City 91.1FM celebrated the 7th Year Anniversary in its own ‘Whatte Fun‘ style, hosting the grand finale of the ongoing ‘911 Edhutu Vanga Panam Panama Allitu Ponga‘ Contest. Assuring a memorable win, the lucky winner was given a once in a lifetime opportunity to go on-air with the Radio City RJs and celebrate his win on the occasion of the station‘s 7th anniversary.

Ahmednagar‘s Radio City 91.1FM concluded the ‘911 in your life‘ contest by sharing a huge bumper prize with the winner and launching the witty new pre-produced feature ‘Watry Bol‘, adding entertainment appeal to the celebrations.

A sustained focus on understanding listeners and leveraging the synergies of music expertise and innovative programming, allows Radio City to deliver a unique listening experience and be an integral part of the lives of listeners. Aggressively looking at spreading the Radio City experience to new markets across the country, Radio City 91.1FM is committed to growing the market and creating superlative content for discerning audiences.

MUMBAI: ICICI Bank Business banking presents CNBC-TV18 ‘Emerging India Awards London-2008‘ creates a global mark, with its theme ‘Think Global Go Global‘, India‘s biggest initiative for Small and Medium Enterprises Sector. The Emerging India Awards London- 2008 felicitation ceremony for the winning SMEs is scheduled for July 8, 2008 in London where the Honorable Chief Guest Mr. L N Mittal, Chairman and CEO, Mittal Steel will felicitate the winners.

The award ceremony will be graced by stalwarts like Rt. Hon John Hutton MP, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and Mr. Kamalnath, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, who will felicitate some of the winners from the 16 categories.

The second round of screening will result in the short listing of 3 entities per category. Each of the 3 short listed entries made a final round of offsite presentations about their respective businesses to a jury of independent experts. The jury selected the winners in each category after evaluating the SME‘s overall business, financial and management strengths and their ability for sustainable value creation for key stakeholders. This year a new factor has been taken into consideration for the International SME‘s where their business linkages with India and strategic focus on the Indian market will be been evaluated. The evaluation was also done keeping in mind the economic dynamics of regions and the company‘s efforts.

MUMBAI: UTV Movies, the Hindi movie channel by UTV Network, announces the launch of its movie festival - Josh-e-Jawaani. The festival in the month of July, begins on the 6th of July and celebrates the josh of youth. The movies would be showcased every Sunday in the slot "Sunday ke Funday" at 12:30 p.m.

The festival consists of great movies centered around the youth like Lakshya, Yuva, Delhii Heights and Jab We Met. All these movies have been hits in their own right and have earned accolades for their stupendous performances and story lines.

Commenting on the festival, UTV Movies, COO, Dilshad Master said, "Josh-e-Jawani is about movies that inspire the youth to excel and at the same time are high on life and entertainment. Josh-e-Jawaani is dedicated to the young Indians who play an important role in making movies successful at the box office. So, here‘s a month-long festival on UTV Movies especially for them which brings them movies they can relate to."

Tune-in to UTV Movies every Sunday in July at 12:30 pm for entertaining blockbusters centered around the youth:

• 6th July - Delhii Heights - Jimmy Shergill and Neha Dhupia
• 13th July - Yuva - Abhishek Bachchan, Ajay Devgan and Vivek Oberoi
• 20th July - Jab We Met - Shahid Kapur and Kareena Kapoor
• 27th July - Lakshya - Hrithik Roshan and Preity Zinta
  

MUMBAI: This episode of Salaam Zindagi talks about a problem in the society, a problem which is now taken the shape of tumor as it is hushed up in the dark corners. It is hidden even though it is prevalent because there is a shame, a stigma attached to it. The victims are those who do not even understand what is happening to them; do not even know if it is right or wrong but they face it in their tender age?.when their mind is naive of all the grime in the society.

Catch Naghma Sehar speaks to veteran director Anurag Kashyap, of Black Friday fame, along with three other brave people on the show who have been victims of child sexual abuse, but able to come out of it and now gather the courage to talk to us about it on Sunday, July 6, 2008 at 6:00pm and its repeat telecast on July 7, 2008 at 2:30 pm, (Part I) & July 8, 2008 at 2:30 pm (Part II) only on NDTV India.

MUMBAI: Outlook Group launches PEOPLE, the world‘s leading celebrity news magazine, in India under a licensing agreement with Time Inc. Time Inc. is the largest magazine publisher in the United States.

With the India edition, PEOPLE makes its overseas debut as a fortnightly national celebrity news magazine. Priced at Rs 30, the first issue [114 pages] will be launched nationwide on 4 July, 2008.

PEOPLE revolutionized personality journalism in 1974 and is today the world‘s most successful and popular magazine. Every week, the PEOPLE brand in the United States brings more than 43 million consumers the latest news, exclusive interviews and in-depth reporting on the most compelling people of our time. PEOPLE India will be a fortnightly magazine. It will be a celebrity news magazine that will showcase ‘Extraordinary People ‘ and ‘Extraordinary Stories‘. The first issue will be available on newsstands July 04, 2008 nationally.

Mr. Indranil, President, Outlook Group, while announcing the launch said, "We are delighted to be associated with Time Inc, one of the world‘s largest magazine publishers and to bring PEOPLE‘s unique editorial mix to India. The launch of PEOPLE will actually create a new genre, which is the "celebrity news magazine".

"The economic growth and opportunity in India right now makes this an ideal time to bring one of Time Inc‘s signature brands into the country," said Mr. Jim Jacovides, Vice President, Licensing and Syndication, Time Inc. Mr. Jacovides group is responsible for the licensing and syndication of Time Inc.‘s leading brands globally. "We are pleased to add PEOPLE to our roster of 35 international editions published under license. "

Ms. Saira Menezes, Editor, PEOPLE in India, said, "We hope to be the biggest, most credible source of information on the people you want to know and the moment that shapes their lives. PEOPLE strives to tell stories that resonate, tell them well and to be at the same time fair, objective, factual and true."