KATHMANDU, March 17: The prestigious ‘Gopal-Kamala Rajbhandari Rotary Award for Vocational Excellence’ was awarded to young entrepreneur Sudip Koirala amidst a special function held in the capital on Friday. The award carries a purse of Rs 1 million.

The award instituted in the memory of Rotarians Gopal-Kamala Rajbhandari is given to those who have contributed to various fields of society. Gopal Rajbhandari is among the founding members of the Rotary Club in Nepal, while his spouse Kamala was active in the Rotary movement right since its inception in Nepal.

Amod Rajbhandari, grandson of Gopal-Kamala, honored Koirala with the award in the presence of other family members at the 15th National Conference of Rotary Club District 3292 on Friday. He said that the Award was established to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to their chosen fields of work.

Past awardees include Chairperson of Dhulikhel Hospital Dr Ramkantha Makaju Shrestha, Former Vice Chancellor of Kathmandu University Dr Suresh Raj Sharma, Cultural Expert late Satya Mohan Joshi, Chairperson of the Prisoners Assistance Nepal Indira Rana Magar, President of F1Soft International Pvt. Ltd Biswas Dhakal and a disabled rights activist Dr Birendra Raj Pokharel. Koirala is the sixth recipient of the award, which was initially a biannual award, but transformed into an annual award from this year.

Addressing the function, Rajbhandari said that their focus for the new iteration for the Gopal-Kamala Rotary Award is to be a spark of inspiration for young people. “We wanted this set of awards to recognize the next generation of change-makers who have shown tremendous promise. We want this award to spur these budding individuals on to do greater things in their lines of work and become positive role models for everyone around them,” he added.

Koirala, who received the award, said that the amount of the award will be invested in the betterment of society. "While we are working, people belonging to the backward sections of society should also be economically uplifted," he said. "This award will encourage me to follow the path I have been treading through for the past several years."

The award carries the philanthropic legacy of the late Gopal Rajbhandari and his spouse Kamala. The couple was involved in various philanthropic activities including building two buildings at Kathmandu University, two similar buildings at Sahid Gangalal National Heart Center, donating money for developing physical infrastructures at Dhulikhel Hospital and school buildings.   

Also in the same function, the Rotary Club of Butwal Downtown was honored with the 'Rotary Janak Das-Kanchhi Maiya Award' worth Rs 500,000. The award was given in recognition of the Club’s outstanding social work. 

Similarly, ‘Rotary Arun Shrestha Award for the Best Club Award’ worth Rs 250,000 was given to Rotaract Club of Kathmandu Mid-Town. Rotary Suniti-Gopal Acharya Tejkumari Luitel and Radha Poudel were awarded with Rs 100,000 each.

 
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