"Technology sweeps lives with attractive means of communication in this information age. There are only a few Christians in the arena to stand in the 'gap' to make quality gospel films, television and music products. They need recognition and encouragement. There is also a need to seek out men and women with talent and commit them to our Saviour to multiply their skills and techniques to feed the hunger of the hearts and soul of the masses. Galilean instituted "Excellence in Christian Media Awards" with this singular goal in view", said Rev. Dr. C.D. Jebasingh, Founder and President of Galilean Ministries.

At the first event of 2006 as many as twenty-four awards divided into three categories – Music, Television and Film – were given. A few noted Christian media personnel were recognized for their trailblazing efforts to communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

A notable winner in the film category was, “Arinjittum Ariyathe”, a Malayalam film produced by Dr. P. G. Vargis, founder of the Indian Evangelical Team. Sudip Mathew directed the film. The award for the best actress went to Anu Oommen for her leading role in “Akri Talash”a film in Hindi produced by Dr. Vargis. Best Actor award went to John Kennedy for his role in “Enakkaga”, a Tamil film made by Brother Mohan C. Lazarus, founder of Jesus Redeems Ministries at Nalumavadi TN.

Other award recipients in the Music category included,

Lyricist R. Jebasingh, Jesus Redeems; Music Composer Augustine Ponseelan of Jesus Redeems; Music Album, Bible Society of India; Special Children Music Album, Jeyan Varghese of Child Evangelism Fellowship. Award was conferred upon Santanam Gideon for Cinematography for his Music Video in Tamil.

Television category award recipients were CBN for “Ek Nayee Zindagi”, a Television Program, and Pastor Shekhar Kallianpur, Anchor, of CBN’s “Solutions”.

Awards of special recognition were presented to Dr. D.G.S. Dhinakaran, Pioneer and Visionary in Gospel Television; Dr. P.K. Rajhuns, Indian Media Professional in the market place; Johnny Lever of “Bollywood”, Vijay Benedict - Bollywood Singer turned Gospel Singer, Ken Curtis, International Film Maker – “Candle in the Dark”, story of William Carey; Michael Hughes, Pioneer of first Christian Channel – MiracleNet; Reginald Prithviraj, Producer, Docu-drama on the life of Bishop R. Caldwell; P. Abraham, Editor/Publisher of “Light of Life”; Mr. Ziden Nutt, Good News Productions International for setting up state-of-the-art studios in India; Rina Singha, a Christian Kathak exponent based in Toronto, Canada; Dr. Rochunga Pudaite for the first 35mm Indian Gospel Film “Beyond the next Mountain”, Ilford Joseph, Cinematographer, for first Gospel film on professional U-matic technology “The Pearl” and Sophia Michael, Abel Michael Ministries Inc, New York, USA.

Entries are being invited to reach the office of the “Galilean” at Bombay before December 1, 2007 for the second event on various classifications in the three categories of film, television and music. Creativity and excellence in communicating the gospel of Christ will be rewarded .

An Organizing Committee of Christian Leaders of different denominational Churches drawn from Business, Industry and Media is galvanizing human and financial resources for the Event. Mr. Gul Kripalani, a leading Industrialist of Bombay is the Chairman. An Awards committee of communications experts headed by Mr. D. S. Soholkar, Marketing & Development Director of RZIM Ministries, will screen the entries.

An entertainment program with the theme “Visual Media for Missions” will punctuate the awards distribution led by Mr. Johnny Lever, the ace Comedian of the film industry. Christian artists from various media centers of the country will perform.

Prayer Networking efforts are shouldered by Pastor Sekhar Kallianpur of International Church (NLF, Bombay) who has preaching and healing ministries spanning the globe.

Galilean International Films & Television Services has its headquarters in Mumbai with a satellite office in Chennai and resource centers at Pune and Hyderabad. It has set up an International office at Toronto, Canada. For details please visit www.galilean.org