To celebrate the 71st Independence Day of Pakistan, the organizing committee of Pakistan Excellence Awards held an awards ceremony recently at Marriott Hotel to pay tribute to the movers and shakers of Pakistan.

The award was well-attended by stars, government officials, media representatives and socialites. Many celebrities like Osman Khalid Butt, Raafay Israr, Nida Yasir, Omer Shahzad, Rizwan Ali Jaffri, Syed Jibran, Kubra Khan, Anam Tanveer, Nina Kashif, Shazia Khushk, Zubia Motiwalla, Ali Rizvi, Ahson Talish, Nausheen Shah and Nadia Hussain were seen at the awards ceremony.

The evening began by welcoming guests at the red carpet, recitation of Holy Quran by Qari Mumtaz, followed by recitation of naath by Asad Ayub. The National Anthem sung by Jamshed Sabri Brothers came next. To entertain the audience a song especially prepared for the awards by Irfan Sumoo was performed by the same group and Farzana Mirza.

Different segments of the show were hosted by Sarah Baloch, Agha Sheerazi, Saddam Tufail, Shazia Khan, Nazia Malik, and Alveena Agha.

Addressing the audience, Chairman of Pakistan Excellence Award Abdul Hameed Bhutto said, “Pakistan Excellence Awards pays tribute to personalities that have served the country well with their talent and dedication. These are the second awards, held annually, and we hope to establish their credibility and consistency in the years to come by not making them overly ambitious, but executing them honourably. We should all come together to encourage such programmes so that more and more people are motivated to excel in their work.”

One of the chief patrons of Pakistan Excellence Awards, chairman Abdullah Builders, Muhammad Iqbal Qureshi said, “Pakistan is the blessing of Allah, and it is our responsibility to develop, build, and protect it. Pakistan Excellence Awards is playing a pivotal role in encouraging the talented people of our country to work even harder and prove themselves. “

Sultana Siddiqui, patron Pakistan Excellence Awards and president HUM Network was the keynote speaker and she spoke on the value of acknowledgement and appreciated the efforts of the organizing committee for launching this great initiative. Guest of Honour, minister of culture, tourism and education, government of Sindh, Sardar Shah reinforced the need for everyone to put their best foot forward and make Pakistan a country that can hold her head high internationally as well.

The first awards were in the categories of Lifetime Achievement, Business, Folk Singer, Best Host of the Year, and Rising Star of the Year male and female. The awards went to Anwar Maqsood, Arif Jeeva, Shazia Khushk, Nusrat Harris, Raafay Israr and Anam Tanveer respectively.

Sohrab Soomro and Ali Gul Mallah took the stage for comedy chit-chat to entertain the audience, after which Farzana Mirza sang a few songs.

The next awards were for Achievement in Women Empowerment, Sports, Education, Human Rights, Culture, Sindh Media, Business, Organising Committee and Ministry and went to Sultana Siddiqui, Mohsin Hasan Khan, Prof. Dr. Fateh Muhammad Burfat, Ansar Burney, Syed Sardar Ali Shah, Syed Yar Mohammad Shah, Junaid Neni taal wala, Khalil Neni taal wala and Iqbal Qureshi respectively.

The next set of awards which were for those winners of 2016 who could not collect their awards for some reason last year went out to Nida Yasir for Best TV Host of the Year, and to Ghulam Akbar Laghari, Asad Ullah Bhatti, and Anwar Saangi for Achievement in Culture, and Current Affairs respectively.

After a hilarious comedy performance of ‘Hum sab umeed se hain’ by its team members, the next set of awards presented in this segment were for Best Model male and female, Best Versatile Model, Best Emerging Stylist, Best Emerging make-up Artist, Best Style Icon of the Year male and female. The awards went to Omer Shahzad, Nadia Hussain, Rizwan Ali Jaffri, Rao Ali Khan, Beenish Parvez, Syed Jibran and Nausheen Shah respectively.

The evening continued with a dynamic performance by Pakistan’s rising talent in music, Raafay Israr who sung a catchy number that appealed to the audience.

Best Comedy Show award was given out to the team of HUM Sab Umeed Say Hain. Best Supporting Actor male and female went to Ali Kazmi and Kubra Khan respectively. Best Actor award male was presented to Osman Khalid Butt. Best play was also a tie and went to Baaghi and Alif Allah Aur Insaan.

At the end of the evening, delicious dinner was served and an enjoyable music performance by band Raeth and Farzana Mirza. All in all it was a successful event that concluded with a good note looking forward to more such awards to take place and honor the known personalities that have served our industry.

The PR of the event was handled by STARLINKS PR & Events.