K. Kunjikrishnan selected for State Television Lifetime Achievement Award 2023

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Minister Saji Cherian announced that K. Kunjikrishnan has been selected for the Kerala State Government’s highest visual media honour, the Television Lifetime Achievement Award (2023). The award includes a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh, a citation, and a sculpture.

The jury that selected the winner comprised Baiju Chandran, last year’s award recipient, as the chairman, along with Diana Silvester and Mohankumar Kallayil, both television program/documentary directors, and C. Ajoy, Secretary of the Chalachitra Academy, as the member secretary.

The jury remarked that K. Kunjikrishnan laid the foundation for Malayalam television broadcasting. He began his career in 1977 as an Assistant Director at Doordarshan Kolkata. Later, as Deputy Director at Doordarshan Madras, he was in charge of Malayalam broadcasts from the station. In 1984, he became the first Director of Doordarshan Thiruvananthapuram and led the inaugural Malayalam television broadcast from Kerala on January 1, 1985.

He retired in 2005 after becoming the first Malayali to reach the post of Additional Director General of Doordarshan. Kunjikrishnan contributed academically to the field of television through works like 'Televisionum Samoohavum' (Television and Society), 'Television: Veekshanam Vishakalanam' (Television: Observation and Analysis), and his award-winning 2018 article 'Pralayakaalathe Malayalam Television', which won the Kerala State Television Award.

A native of Peralam, Payyannur, K. Kunjikrishnan began his professional life as a lecturer at Payyannur College. His wife, Ragini, is a painter. They have two sons, Jayadeep Krishnan and Vishwanath Krishnan.