The following Awards will be presented:
1. The V Venkayya Epigraphy Award 2026 will be conferred posthumously on Late Dr C Somasundara Rao, eminent Telugu epigrapher and historian, for his significant contributions to the field of Epigraphy. The Award will be received by Ms Surya Lakshmi, daughter of the awardee.
2. The THT Prof. S Swaminathan Heritage Award 2026 will be presented to M Udhaya Sankar for his contributions to strengthening our existing knowledge base of heritage assets and resources and deepening the general public’s knowledge of Indian heritage.
The Awards Ceremony will be followed by the Award Lecture by M Udhaya Sankar on “கல்வெட்டும் கணினியும்”. The talk will be in Tamil.
About The Speaker:
Udhaya Sankar (Udhayan) works as a 3D graphic designer and masonry estimator at a private organization. Outside his professional career, Udhayan has been a pioneering cultural archivist dedicated to open‑source digital archiving, cultural informatics, and computational preservation of Tamil heritage.
Over the last 17 years, Udhayan has made remarkable contributions to the preservation and digitization of Tamil heritage. His work includes field documentation of 90+ hills and caves, photographic archiving of nearly 200 temples, the creation of a comprehensive Tamil inscription database and epigraphic dictionary, and the engineering‑precision digitization of 5000+ Kolam designs.
Through his platform Udhayam.in, he has developed a digital archive of over 2,000 Tamil inscriptions. He has also revived ancient Tamil‑Brahmi script through the Adinatha Font and developed experimental heritage‑inspired typefaces.
He has been recognized by institutions such as REACH Foundation, Madurai Corporation, Madurai Digitall and Chola History Research Association for his contributions to heritage.