We are proud to share that our founder, Shri Anil Pradhan, has been honoured with the Youth Changemaker award at OTV’s Odisha Citizens Award 2026. The award was presented on Sunday, 27 September 2026, in Bhubaneswar.
About the Odisha Citizens Award
The Odisha Citizens Award (OCA) is presented every year by OTV to people whose work has made a difference in Odisha. 2026 was its 14th edition, and the theme was The Change Makers.
Awards were given across ten categories: education, healthcare, social service, sports, art and culture, agriculture, entertainment, public service, youth changemaker and entrepreneurship. Speaking about the award, Jagi Mangat Panda, Managing Director of Odisha Television Limited, said it recognises individuals whose work and dedication have made a positive impact on society.
Shri Anil Pradhan was honoured alongside Baishnab Charan Samal (Education), Dr Sunil Agrawal (Health), Ramahari Jena (Art & Culture), Dilip Kumar Baral (Agriculture), para-athlete Suchitra Parida (Sports), actress Suryamayee (Entertainment), Santosh Khemundu (Entrepreneur) and Dr Fakir Mohan Naik (Public Service). The evening was attended by Bhubaneswar-Ekamra MLA Babu Singh, Berhampur MP Pradeep Panigrahy and Padma Shri sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik.
Why this recognition matters
Shri Anil Pradhan grew up in Baral, a small island village in Odisha. Under his leadership, Young Tinker began in 2015 under a tin shed as a “School for Rural Innovation”, with one simple belief: a child in a village deserves the same chance to build, break and invent as a child anywhere else.
Since then, through Young Tinker Spaces, the Young Tinker Fellowship and Tinker on Wheels, our mobile lab, Young Tinker Foundation has reached more than 4.3 lakh students across rural and tribal regions. For many of them, a Young Tinker session was the first time they held a motor, a sensor or a 3D-printed part.
Recognition from Odisha, by the people of Odisha, is especially meaningful to us. This is where Young Tinker started, and where much of our work continues. The trophy, shaped like the map of the state, says it well.
An award for the whole team
This honour belongs to everyone who makes Young Tinker possible: our trainers who drive Tinker on Wheels to schools on difficult roads, the teachers and headmasters who open their classrooms to us, our fellows and volunteers, our partners and donors, and above all our students, whose curiosity is the real change.
We thank OTV and the Odisha Citizens Award jury for this honour. We take it as a responsibility: to reach more children, in more villages, with more chances to tinker.
If you can dream it, you can build it.
Source: OTV’s Odisha Citizens Award 2026 celebrates ‘The Change Makers’, odishatv.in