The Shriram Group of companies is celebrating the 125th birth anniversary of poet Subramania Bharathi on February 10 at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore.Speaking to mediapersons, G. Sundaresan, chairman of the Shriram Bharathi Kalai Ilakkiya Kazhagam, said that the celebrations were being held for the 20th year in succession.

Oratorical competitions were conducted for school and college students in Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchi, Coimbatore and Karaikudi to create awareness of the works of Subramania Barathi.

Over 4,000 students participated. The best three chosen in each group will receive prizes worth Rs. 5,000, Rs. 3,000 and Rs. 2,000 respectively.

Besides this, the Kazhagam will also honour four persons for their contribution to the Tamil language. Each award carries a cash prize of Rs. 10,000. The awardees this year are Ye.Su. Rajan, T. Stalin Gunasekaran, Kothamangalam Viswanathan and Alliance Srinivasan.

They will also be given the title of Bharati Ilakkiya Chelvar.

Kalaimamani Vikraman, advisor to the Shriram Bharathi Ilakkiya Kazhagam, said that the granddaughter of Subramania Bharathi, Lalitha Bharathi would give away the prizes.