Sound designer Manas Tarai at his studio. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, June 20: Paradip boy Manas Ranjan Tarai and his teammates have won a silver award in the prestigious New York Festivals.

Representing a Delhi-based FM station, his team participated in the 55th edition of the Festivals that awards best radio and television programmes along with short films. About 17 radio programmes from India made their way into the contest. Among those were three productions designed by Tarai.

The productions competed in three different categories.

In the ‘Human Interest’ category, they had sent their radio serial Sharad Ki Madad narrating the tale of a common man fighting the presidential elections.

In the ‘Human Relation’ category, was a campiagn on radio that became popular in the national capital.

“A girl had called us saying her brother who was serving six-month sentence Tihar jail would have to spend six more months behind bars as they were not able to pay the initial fine imposed on him. The boy was incarcerated because he was caught stealing iron from a railway construction site to procure money for his sister’s education. We found out there were many similar cases. So, we produced an awareness campaign in which people sent us contributions out of which a fund was created for such prisoners,” said Tarai.

However, both the programmes failed to win in their respective genres. It was in the ‘Community Service’ category that their production received the award.

A radio campaign, Kya HIV-positive Ravi ko Dilli mein ghar mil payega became very popular. It was about an HIV-affected man who complained of not getting a home and job in Delhi after his parents abandoned him because of his ailment. Several calls poured to their office offering the hapless man a home and a job. Some celebrities, too, came forward to visit him to help him gain societal acceptance.

When the names of winners of the awards were announced on June 18, Tarai was surprised. “We never expected it. The festival receives nominations from across the globe. We participated in it with hope, but when we won the silver award for our production, it was surreal.”