Scholarships/Awards:
1. SIR T.S. Venkatraman Memorial Scholarship.
2. Smt. Vemuri Sitaramamma &Sri. Vemuri Someswara Rao Memorial Scholarships.
3. Walter J. Karplus Memorial Scholarship
4. Dr. Meera M. Blattner Award

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Preamble:

These awards are being created by the children and grandchildren of
Smt. Vemuri Sitaramamma and Sri. Vemuri Someswararao, who  lived the last parts of their lives in Tuni, Andhra Pradesh, India. They valued the acquisition of knowledge more than an accumulation of wealth. They themselves never enjoyed any material wealth or the fruits of their labors.

It is our hope to create a pool of money and leave it in a perpetual trust. A portion of the earnings from that trust shall be used to create the awards and the rest put back as a way to increase the assets of the trust.

It is the intention of the creators of this trust to keep the funds in the United States and send only the award money to India.

1. Nature of the Awards:
a. The awards shall be called Smt. Vemuri Sitaramamma and Sri. Vemuri Someswararao Memorial Awards.
b. The awards are meant to promote opportunities to individuals seeking advanced education (beyond high-school).
c. At this time, three awards will be made each year.
d. These awards were primarily meant to help individual students in need. Occasionally an institution in need may receive an award in lieu of an individual.
e. At this time, the monetary value of each award is set at Rs. 1,000/. Exceptions can be made in special cases.

2. Selection Criteria:
a. These awards are need based. The first selection criterion is need. The second criterion is achievement. The third criterion is promise.
b. Need is measured in terms of what is known and what can be gathered about the student's financial resources.
c. Students achieving a place in the top third of the class are eligible.
d. Assessment of promise is subjective and is left to the judgment of the selection committee. The committee is urged to pick students who are more likely to succeed in institutions of higher learning; the award is not meant for students terminating with high-school.
e. A student may receive the award more than once, if the need persists,  and the student's performance and progress are exemplary.

3. Selection Process:
a. The selection committee shall be comprised of three individuals.
b. One of them shall always be either a member of the Vemuri family, i.e.,  any descendent of Smt. Sitaramamma Vemuri and Sri Someswararao Vemuri. The second member shall be a teacher or principal from one of the schools in the geographical area where the awards are made.  The third shall be a disinterested and distinguished member from the local community.
c. The selection committee publicizes the availability of these awards and receives nominations with recommendations from school authorities, before a preselected deadline.
d. The committee picks two semi-finalists  for each category and forwards the four names to  V. Vemuri and Sriram Vemuri in the United States for final selection.
e. The award check and a certificate shall be presented to the recipients at an appropriate function in Tuni.

NOTE 1: The initial responsibility of guiding this effort is entrusted to the committee comprised of Sri. Vemuri V. Somayaji, Retd. Executive Engineer, Bellapu Veedhi, Tuni and Sri. Maddala Gopalam, Cashier, State Bank of India, Tuni, and a very dear friend and disciple of our revered father.

NOTE 2: Students terminating with high school are not eligible. Awards will only be made if suitable candidates are found that meet the "need test" and "scholarship test". If you are in the top 25% of your class and if you feel you have a need, then you are encouraged to apply. The selection committee's decision is final.
 
Venkateswara Rao Vemuri    
1 January 1992                       

Sriram Vemuri
1 January 1992
 
List of past recepients.