Awards

Unlike most traditional awards Toto Funds the Arts (TFA) does not seek or reward artistic accomplishment or commercial success. Instead, we are interested in recognising potential that can be nurtured, validating raw talent and creativity, and encouraging young people to pursue their passion for the arts. Our hope is that the TOTO Awards will be seen as opening out a larger world of opportunity and as the beginning of a lifelong quest.

In 2005, TFA started by giving one TOTO Award – for Music. In subsequent years, the annual TOTO Awards embraced Creative Writing in English, and then Photography, followed by Creative Writing in Kannada, Short Film and, in 2023, Digital Art. Winners, between the ages of 18 and 29, receive a cash prize, a certificate and a handsome (and heavy!!) handcrafted trophy! The jurors for all these awards change from year to year.

For details of the awards in different categories, please read on.

MUSIC

Toto’s first love and TFA’s first award recognises exceptionally talented singer-songwriters and
music bands making any kind of music in India, in any language, from rock to folk or metal to
jazz. The only constraint is that their submissions must be their original content.
Previous winners have represented a wide range of genres such as Metal, Hip Hop,
R&B, Fusion and Electronica, and have come from all corners of India, including the
north-east and Jammu and Kashmir. Music critics, producers and leading practitioners have
beeninvited to form part of the independent panel of jurors.

PHOTOGRAPHY

The TOTO Awards for Photography, which were inaugurated in 2008 in association with
Tasveer, are now supported by the Arts and Photography Foundation. These awards have
applauded photographers who have evoked mood, told stories, documented important histories
or practices, and extended the medium to include texts, graphics and other interventions in the
space of the image. The jurors for these awards, which are given for a thematically connected
series of photographs, comprise established photographers, curators, critics, architects and
leaders of prominent photography organisations.

CREATIVE WRITING – ENGLISH

Introduced in 2006, the awards in this category have been won by poets, short story writers and
playwrights. The volume of entries has grown exponentially over the years and has explored a
diversity of styles and themes – from performance poetry to science fiction. The composition of
the jury for these awards includes poets, literary critics, novelists, journalists, scholars and
teachers from different parts of the country.

CREATIVE WRITING – KANNADA

The award for Creative Writing in Kannada was inaugurated in 2011 by the noted Kannada
writer and intellectual U R Ananthamurthy. Supported by Bhoomija Trust since its inception, the
first award in this category was won by writer and theatre person Mounesh Badiger. Since then it
has been won by short fiction writers and poets from all over Karnataka, many of whom have
gone on to become published writers and to win literary awards given by the state and central
governments.

SHORT FILM

Introduced in 2013 and set up in memory of Dr Sanat Kumar Ghosh, the Short Film awards are
supported by O2 Financials. The awards can be won by the directors of animation, documentary,
fiction, experimental, or mixed genre films of 30 minutes or less. Eminent filmmakers, editors,
and film critics and journalists have formed part of the jury over the years.

DIGITAL ART

Instituted to honour the memory of the late Mehlli Gobhai, one of India’s finest abstract artists,
the TOTO for Digital Art is the first award to recognise the growing field of digital art in India. It
was introduced in 2023 and is supported by the Estate of Mehlii Gobhai. Given the vastness of
the field, it is currently restricted to digitally drawn or created still images.