Honda Cars India has presented the 12th Edition of the Young Engineer and Scientist’s (Y-E-S) Award for 2018-19 to 14 students from India’s premium science and technology institute, the IITs, across India.  This takes the total number of award-winning students to 154 in 12 years. The Y-E-S Award is bestowed every year to bright students of the IITs after a rigorous evaluation by a panel of senior Honda executives and prominent Indian scientists.

The Y-E-S Award was instituted by the Honda Foundation in India in 2007 and is facilitated by Honda Cars India to nurture young students who have excelled in the area of science and technology and aspire for higher academic achievement. With this program, the Honda Foundation hopes to promote dissemination of eco-technology among the young generation while also strengthening interaction and exchange between Japanese and Indian youth expected to lead science, technology and industry.

The chief guest Kenji Hiramatsu, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of Japan, presented the award to the students in recognition of their outstanding all-round performance in academics. Also present on the occasion, were  Hiroto Ishida, president, Honda Foundation and Dr. (Ms.) Kazuko Matsumoto, director, Honda Foundation, who was also the guest of honour. 

A scholarship of cash equivalent of US $3,000 each, was presented to 14 students selected from six IITs – Bombay, Madras, Kharagpur, Kanpur, Roorkee and Guwahati – on the basis of their Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA), Essays and 2 rounds of personal interviews with the selection committee of senior Honda executives and  Shirish Garud, director- TERI, the chief assessor of the selection committee.

Mr Hiramatsu congratulated all the students by saying “I congratulate all the awardees of the Y-E-S Award. India and Japan enjoy a fulfilling bilateral relationship and I hope that through this opportunity you will experience Japan’s advanced technological system and enjoy research which is aimed at contributing to social causes.”

Talking about the Y-E-S Award, Gaku Nakanishi, president and CEO, Honda Cars India, said, “We are very pleased to announce the 12th edition of Y-E-S Award. The journey has been phenomenal and we have received tremendous response and enthusiasm from the IIT students who put in their best efforts to showcase their work. So far we have awarded 154 such students in 12 years. Such a platform encourages young professionals to involve in higher research in the field of technology. We want to provide them the opportunity with Y-E-S Award so that they can fulfill their dreams.”

Sai Uttej Koduri, a student from IIT Madras and an Y-E-S Awardee said,  “My entire journey has been nothing short of unique, enriching and fulfilling. I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to Honda for investing in this powerful cause and for believing on me that I can make a contribution to the sphere of eco-technology. I thank the entire Honda Team for their seamless and meticulous planning of the entire process. “

The awardees for Y-E-S Award 2018-19 in India are:

(L-R, Row 1) Minoru Kato, Toshinari Mohara, Kenji Hiramatsu, Kazuko Matsumoto, Gaku Nakanishi, Hiroto Ishida, Shirish Garud, Yoshifumi Iida and Kazuyoshi Maruyama along with the Y-E-S awardees.