Instituted in 1988, the award is today billed as the highest honour given to an Indian professional for his outstanding contribution to the advertising industry. Says Ram Sehgal, president, AAAI: ``This year, it was a unanimous choice. In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the industry, we are presenting this award to Krishnamurthy.'' The executive committee of AAAI includes 16 eminent professionals from the advertising industry.

The parameters for the award include: the individual's contribution in areas of leadership in the industry; his professionalism; personal integrity;values and ethics. Last year, the award was given to yet another doyen in the ad industry, RK Swamy, chairman, RK Swamy & BBDO advertising.

According to Ramesh Narayan, managing director, Canco Advertising, this award is an acknowledgement of his achievements in the industry.

``Krishnamurthy has almost elevated the in-house agency to its present state in the last few years,'' adds Narayan.

It was 18 years ago, that Reliance floated `Mudra' as an in-house agency. And today, with capitalised billings of Rs 420 crore, Mudra is the third leading advertising agency in the country. According to an industry source, Mudra began its operation in a very small office in Ahmedabad.

The past recipients of the award include, Mike Khanna, Ravi Gupta (posthumous), Bal Mundkur, Subhas Ghosal, K.Kurien, Subroto Sengupta, Alyque Padamsee, and SR Iyer.