American Telugu Association’s 12thConference and Youth Convention concluded their 3 day event in Atlanta, Georgia on July 8th on a very grand note with a scintillating and exhilarating music concert by Thaman group keeping the audience of over 8,000 people mesmerized and spellbound. The other programs beginning from opening night of Banquet Dinner through the concluding night were equally enthralling.

The prestigious awards ceremony followed by actress Hamsa Nandini's dance was out of this world. The banquet dinner was attended by over 3,500 people in a jam packed and specially decorated Murphy Ballroom in Georgia World Congress Center. The audience included union and state ministers, political leaders, sportsmen, Tollywood stars etc. The music and dance performance by US talent followed by Bhuvana Kruthi, a child protégé and popular singers Revanth, Vijayalakshmi, Gazal Srinivas and Master of Ceremony by Rani Rudrama from Andhra Pradesh was a teaser to the audience to keep guessing as what is stored for next two days. While parents were enjoying the Banquet night, youth started the conference kick-off with a 5 hour cruise.

The Inaugural day opening ceremony was a sight to watch with lighting the lamp, singing national anthems, Swagatha Geetham song followed by an Inaugural theme dance in praise of Telugu Heritage. Swamy Chidatmananda from Chinmaya Mission, chief guest Pallam Raju, Union Minister of State for Defense, State Ministers DK Aruna, Sriddhar Babu, TV9 fame Ravi Prakash, and other guests addressed the audience.

Eminent speakers at all seminars including business, women, political and NRI forums, spiritual sessions TV5 News Scan with Venkata Krishna and Encounter with Ravi Prakash, Business Desk by Vasantha Kumar etc., were attended by hundreds of people filling the rooms on both days. Singles Meet was another highlight of the conference. The singing and dance competitions were equally entertaining.
The Avadhanam by Garikipati Narasimha RaoGaru was hailed as one of the best ever at any of the conferences in America and was attended by a few thousand people. ATA considers it a great honor to host such an eminent Avadhani at this conference.

ATA life time achievement award was given to Sri. Vempati Chinnasatyam garu in recognition for his contribution to the Kuchipudi Nrityam art and for keeping alive an old art which is now passed on to a new generation of Americans of Telugu origin. He was felicitated in Chennai during the prime time with a live telecast. It was an honor for ATA that Sri. Chinnasatyam garu accepted this award. Dr. Shobha Naidu, a disciple of Sri. Chinnasatyam was felicitated for her contribution to Kuchpudi Nrityam. Master of ceremony is done for the rest of the two days by Shipla Chakraborthy. ATA’s Philanthropist award was given to Dr. Hanimireddy Lakkireddy who has been on the forefront of helping those in need and continually striving to improve quality of life for people living here in USA and in Andhra Pradesh.

The food provided by Swagath Group headed by Jayaram Komati was a delight to all and everyone had a compliment for the taste and service. The Audio/Video arrangements on the main stage and all across the meeting halls made by ByteGraph Creations owned by Prashanth were awesome and superb. Prashanth redefined the quality to set a higher standard. Thanks to both Prashanth and Jayaram. The cultural programs presented during prime time on both days were spectacular. Producer Dil Raju and Director Vamshi Paidipalli of Tollywood were amazing with the quality of performances during prime time and have complimented ATA for promoting and encouraging the amateur artists and choreographers.

The mimcry by Jithendra Nath and comedy by AVS, Venumadhav, Gundu Hanmanth Rao, Hema, Apoorva, Srinivas Reddy, Gowtham Raju were well received by the audience. ATA felicitated political leaders from Andhra Pradesh who took time to attend the conference. ATA is also thankful to Actress Ileana D’Cruz for coming to this conference and for being an active participant in Tollywood Meet & Greet program where the audience had an opportunity to interact with her, Director Vamshi Paidipalli and AVS group in an open forum. We were very glad to see former Indian Cricket Captain and present member of Parliament Mohammad Azaruddin taking time from his busy schedule to attend the conference. ATA is very proud that it could attract more than 130 vendors who had exhibit-booths at this conference and have provided an opportunity for the attendees to shop to their heart’s content.

ATA Board of Trusteese xpressed their heartfelt gratitude to all performers, organizers, donors, vendors and attendees from all across the globe making the conference a huge success. They also expressed their appreciation for the management of Georgia World Congress Center for providing this facility and also for their cooperation during the entire event. ATA Board of Trustees also expressed their sincere thanks to each one of the hundreds of volunteers from Metro Atlanta Telugu community who joined various conference committees and toiled hard for past 18 months to make this conference successful.

ATA conveyed special thanks to Telugu Association of Metro Atlanta (TAMA) for being the co-host and Greater Atlanta Telugu Association (GATA) for being the co-sponsor of the conference and for all the support given. ATA also conveyed a special thanks to TORi ( Teluguone Radio On Internet ) for its efforts for the past three months in making the Singers Talent Hunt – Jhummandi Naadam, a grand success. ATA Committee Specially thanked TV5, TNEWS, NTV, SAKSHI, GEMINI, TV9, ETVand print media Sakshi, Great Andhra, Namasthe Andhra, Eenadu, India Tribune, India Abroad, Telugu People, Andhra Headlines, That’s Telugu and Telugu Times and other media for unprecedented coverage during the conference.

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