Google Announces Winners of Wordmasters 2006

Google Announces Winners of Wordmasters 2006

Mumbai – November 9, 2006 – Google India today announced the winners of Google Wordmasters 2006, the creative writing contest designed to identify and celebrate India’s top English writing talent. Google named Vamsi Krishna Nakkina, from Hyderabad, as overall winner of the competition, with Karunguzhi Nalini from Bangalore and Amrita Singh from Delhi as runners-up.

In taking first place, Vamsi Krishna Nakkina receives a creative writing course from a reputed university abroad and a cash prize of Rs 100000. The second runner-up receives a cash prize of Rs 75000, and third runner-up a cash prize of Rs 50000. All top 10 finalists* (*see appendix for full list) are also invited to visit the Google Hyderabad office, meet with the team and explore Google’s dynamic working environment.

“Wordmasters 2006 was a platform to identify and celebrate India’s top English writing talent and we are thrilled with both the response and the quality of talent we have seen” said Roy Gilbert, Director Online Sales and Operations, Google India. “At Google, our users, customers and partners expect high quality communication and we hope that such contests will provide further opportunities to attract strong writing talent to Google.”

In Wordmasters 2006, participants were given a randomly generated list of words and were asked to use them to create a logical and grammatically correct written piece on a topic of choice. The contest, open to participants nationally, was held on September 30, 2006 across 10 cities in India. These cities include Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Cochin, Delhi, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune. The contest drew a very enthusiastic response with 3000 participants from across the nation. Judges included leading authors Anita Nair and Bakhtiar K Dadabhoy, as well as a number of Google representatives.

About Google Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1988 by Stanford PhD. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.co.in.

Appendix 1- List of Top 10 Finalists – Google Wordmasters Challenge 2006

|-------+-----------------------------+--------------------------|
| Rank  | Name                        | City                     |
|-------+-----------------------------+--------------------------|
| 1     | Vamsi Krishna Nakkina       | Hyderabad                |
|-------+-----------------------------+--------------------------|
| 2     | Karunguzhi Nalini           | Bangalore                |
|-------+-----------------------------+--------------------------|
| 3     | Amrita Singh                | Delhi                    |
|-------+-----------------------------+--------------------------|
| 4     | Shriganesh Joshi            | Mumbai                   |
|-------+-----------------------------+--------------------------|
| 5     | Shyamalima   Sengupta       | Bangalore                |
|-------+-----------------------------+--------------------------|
| 6     | Ravi Rao                    | Mumbai                   |
|-------+-----------------------------+--------------------------|
| 7     | Tulika Srimal               | Hyderabad                |
|-------+-----------------------------+--------------------------|
| 8     | Debdutta Saha               | Hyderabad                |
|-------+-----------------------------+--------------------------|
| 9     | Terence Tuhinanshu          | Indore                   |
|-------+-----------------------------+--------------------------|
| 10    | Geeta Ganapathy             | Bangalore                |
|-------+-----------------------------+--------------------------|

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