January 26, 2006, Mumbai, India - The First Galilean Awards ("Excellence in Christian Media Awards") was a special evening for Galilean International Films and Television Services, a ministry establish in 1979 to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ though effective use of visual-media.

"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.

As many as twenty-four awards divided into four categories - Music. Television, Film & Special Jury - were conferred upon Christian media personnel who have laboured hard to make known the Gospel of Jesus Christ not only in India but internationally.

Over 800 invited guests filled the St. Andrews Auditorium, at Mumbai who was treated to an array of performances that included song, dance and humor. Philip Newbigging and Elizabeth Peters were the hosts for the evening.

The evening opened with the playing of the National Anthem composed by Padma Shri A.R. Rahman followed by Elizabeth Shaji with a harmonica recital. A group of young people from the Radiant Assembly of God Church led the praise and worship. The Blind Association dance troupe performed spectacular and colorful sequence of dance. A Bharat Natyam piece that described God as an ocean full of love and kindness was presented by Ruth Moses a 13-year-old student. The other performers for the night included Jennifer Franklin and Anthony Raj, who were the recipients of Female and Male Singer 2006 respectively. Jamie Janumala, a 12th grade student sang a track from her debut album. Naveen, founder of 'Follow Jesus' gave a flute recital. Vijay Benedict recipient of a Jury Award blessed the crowd with his songs and music.

Johnny Lever, also a recipient of a Jury Award brought the message of hope with his trademark humor.

Other award recipients in the Music category included, Lyricist R. Jebasingh, Jesus Redeems; Music Composer Augustine Ponselvan of Jesus Redeems; Music Album, Bible Society of India; Special Children Music Album, Jeyan Varghese of Child Evangelism Fellowship.

In the film category, awards were conferred upon Santanam Gideon for Cinematography, Music Video (Tamil); "Arinjittum Ariyathe", Film (Malayalam), Produced by P.G Vargis, Indian Evangelical Team; Actress Anu Oommen, "Aakhri Talash" (Hindi); Actor John Kennedy "Enakkaga..." (Tamil).

Television category award recipients were CBN for "Ek Nayee Zindagi", a Television Program, and Shekar Kallianpur, Anchor, CBN's Solutions.

Other Jury awards were presented to Sophia Michael, Abel Michael Ministries Inc, New York, USA; Rina Singha, a Christian Kathak exponent based in Toronto, Canada; Michael Hughes, Pioneer of first Christian Channel - MiracleNet; Dr. D.G.S. Dhinakaran, Visionary in Gospel Television; Dr. P.K. Rajhuns, Indian Media Professional in the market place; Reginald Prithviraj, Producer, Docu-drama of Bishop R. Caldwell; P. Abraham, Editor/Publisher of "Light of Light"; Ken Curtis, International Film Maker - "Candle in the Dark", story of William Carey; Mr. Ziden Nutt, Good News Productions International for setting up state-of-the-art studios in India; Ilford Joseph, Cinematographer, for first Gospel film on professional U-matic technology "The Pearl".

Galilean chose a beautiful piece of crystal for the trophy. "The most fitting recognition for the great contribution made by the children of God in the various fields that God has placed them", said Elizabeth Peters, Editor of 'The Galilean", a bi-monthly magazine, quoting from Philippians 3:13-14. "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, press toward the nark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus".

"This is a first ever venture. It is a historic occasion. It is the desire of all concerned that this effort should continue. Galilean is all set to hold it once every two years," said David Peters, General Director of Galilean Ministries. "There is a constant need to encourage the "sowers and repears" that their work matters to God, that we are true partners in ministry, and that the fate of future harvest depends on their efforts," he added.

A Committee of Christian Leaders of different denominational Churches drawn from Business, Industry and Media organized the Awards Event. Mr. Daniel P. Melville, a leading Industrialist was the Chairman. He was assisted by Mr. Stafford Cripps (Convener-Prayer), Mr. D.S. Soholkar (Awards), Rev. Dr. Victor Gollapalli (Program) and Mr. Kurien Daniel (Souvenir).

Galilean International Films & Television Services has its headquarters in Mumbai with satellite office in Chennai. For details please visit www.galilean.org