However, advertising award bodies have been slow in recognising and rewarding work in the medium, which has been dismissed as 'unglamorous'. In response, the first Mirchi Kaan awards had more glamour than most mainstream advertising or even feature film awards, with awards given away by some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry. The awards also threw up some more unusual winners - McCann was radio agency of the year and also won several special awards, including a trophy for its national creative director Prasoon Joshi for radio writer of the year.
As well as winning trophies for Alpenliebe and Chlormint from Perfetti, the agency also won a crystal award for Dabur Chyawanprash.Euro RSCG took six trophies for clients Shagun, Mortien and Otrivin O. Other agencies that performed impressively include Rediffusion DY&R, Everest and J. Walter Thompson.
The industry is unanimous that the awards were long overdue. Said Joshi: "These awards will motivate people to write good radio. India is a country of oral tradition and so we ought to be doing fabulous work on the medium."