U.S. Olympics silver medallist Mohini Bhardwaj was declared the ‘India Abroad Person of the Year 2004’ on Dec. 3. Bhardwaj, who could not attend the ceremony, was represented by her father, Dr. Kaushal Bharadwaj, right. Sonal Shah, ‘India Abroad Person of the Year 2003,’ presented the award to Dr. Bhardwaj.

Mohini Bhardwaj, who fought a dislocated shoulder, low funds and a relatively advanced age, to help the U.S. Olympic team win a silver medal at the Athens 2004 Olympics, was named the ‘India Abroad Person of the Year.’ She was chosen from among a list of 120 candidates nominated by the Indian-American community.

Bhardwaj is the third person to win the award instituted in 2002 by India Abroad weekly newspaper. Publisher of the newspaper Ajit Balakrishnan said the award was instituted “to honor, annually, one member of the community whose achievements, in a certain calendar year would put him or her on a pedestal as first among equals.”

Celebrated attorney Vanita Gupta, right, was recognized at the event under a new category, the ‘India Abroad Publisher’s Special Award for Outstanding Achievement.’ Ajit Balakrishnan, publisher of India Abroad, left, presented the award.

Swati Dandekar, the first Indian-American woman to be elected to a state legislature (Iowa), was the first winner of the award. Last year, the award went to Sonal Shah, founder of Indicorps, a voluntary program that takes young Indian Americans to work on projects in India for a year.

Attorney Vanita Gupta, who won the release of 46 wrongly-accused African Americans in Tulia, Texas, was named the first winner of the ‘India Abroad Publisher’s Special Award for Outstanding Achievement.’

Balakrishnan said the new award was instituted keeping in mind the “community’s achievements are too vast, too varied and too immense to be contained within the framework of one award.”

The awards were announced at a ceremony in the elegant surroundings of the Villard Ballroom at the New York Palace Hotel on Dec. 3. Over 300 movers and shakers of New York’s Indian- American community were invited to a sit-down dinner where the master of ceremonies, Sreenath Sreenivasan, associate professor of professional practice, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, and co-founder of the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA), made the announcement.

Bhardwaj, who could not attend the ceremony, was represented by her father, Dr. Kaushal Bhardwaj.

Accepting the award on behalf of her daughter, Dr. Bharadwaj was emotional. A short film on the young athlete was shown at the event. Recorded video messages from Mohini and her mother, Indu Bhardwaj, were played after the announcement.

The 25-year-old Olympian from Cincinnati became the first Indian American to not just represent the U.S. in Olympics but also to captain the U.S. team.

The choice of Vanita Gupta for a special award was in recognition of her inspired campaign on behalf of 46 African Americans, who were convicted by an all-white jury on the charges of drug dealing. Despite the heavy odds of working on a tough case in a town of 5,117 people in Texas in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, Gupta took up the case while attending a clinic with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP) Legal Defense and Education Fund. In 2003, four years after they were jailed, the convictions of the 46 people were overturned.

In May 2004, Gupta negotiated a settlement that led to winning $5 million for those arrested. Gupta said she was motivated to take up the case because of its undertones of racism.

According to India Abroad, the list of candidates included an internationally famous venture capitalist, a politician, a breakthrough actor, two researchers and the first Indian-American president of a leading institution. “There is no doubt that each name on this list brilliant, each is worthy, but we can pick only one,” Sonal Shah, chairperson of the jury and the winner of the 2003 award, said.

The award ceremony also saw a recorded video message from Louisiana Republican Congressman Bobby Jindal, who was among the candidates nominated for the award.

At the beginning of the event, Sreenivasan recognized Gopal Raju, founder and former publisher of India Abroad, for leadership and the platform created by him.

He also recognized and thanked Veena Merchant, Editor-in-chief of News India-Times and former deputy publisher of India Abroad, for her contributions.