Lucknow: Phones went up, cheers grew louder and crowds gathered around familiar faces for selfies as the Times of India Youth Icons UP Chapter Awards & Summit 2026 turned into a star-studded celebration of achievement, ambition and opportunity on Tuesday.From actors and comedians to sportspersons, entrepreneurs, administrators and cultural personalities, the event brought together achievers from diverse fields.Awardees were greeted with applause as they walked up to the stage, while attendees waited for their turn to capture a moment with their favourite personalities. Beyond the selfies and star encounters, the summit became a platform to discuss Uttar Pradesh’s economic ambitions, employment opportunities, entrepreneurship, sports, tourism, culture and the future of its youth.Addressing the gathering, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said, “Uttar Pradesh is a state of immense talent and potential. When our youth get the right platform, guidance and opportunities, they can excel in every field. The Times of India Youth Icons Awards recognise the hard work and achievements of young people and inspire others to dream big.”“Our aim is to create an Uttar Pradesh where young people can turn their aspirations into achievements and contribute to the state’s growth,” he said.The awards recognised achievers across disciplines. In sports, Raj Kumar Pal, Ajeet Yadav and Ashu Maurya were honoured for hockey, Parul Chaudhary, Jay Kumar, Prachi Chaudhary and Rohit Yadav for athletics, Mairaj Ahmad Khan for shooting, Arjun Deshwal for kabaddi, and Ashmita Dey for judo.In business, Mayank, founder and CEO of ADROSONIC, received the Male Entrepreneur Award, while Mahesh Shukla of PayMe Home of Brands was recognised in the Financial Empowerment category.Ankit Sahani of The Hazelnut Factory received the Young Entrepreneur Award, Rama Krishnan was recognised as Startup Founder, and Mili Malhotra as Women Entrepreneur.In the entertainment category, the winners included actor and Gorakhpur MP Ravi Kishan (Youth Icon of the Year), comedian Harsh Gujral (Creator of the Year), Varsha Shukla (Comedy Icon; Female), Saurabh Pandey (Comedy Icon; Male), and theatre artist Rivva Kishan (Emerging Talent in Entertainment).Other awardees included Milind Raj (Grassroots Leader), Vivek Mishra of Raphe mPhibr (Tech Innovator), Gurleen Chawla (Agri Innovator), Pooja Pal (Education and Skilling) and Ayush Singh (Environment).Himanshu Bajpai was honoured for Regional Language and Dastangoi, Siddhartha Banerjee for music, Shinjini Kulkarni for performing arts, Satendra Shukla for literature and Harkirat Singh for heritage revival.Sanjivini Sharma was recognised for Promoting Sustainability, Civic Sense and Climate Action, while Yashoda received the Digital Education and Language Learning award. Maroof Culmen was recognised as Cultural Storyteller, Sneha Sahu in the food and culture category, Jahnvi Singh for cultural and spiritual storytelling and Harshvardhan Patel in the Travel and Heritage category.CEO and founder of APCO Infratech Pvt Ltd, Arpit Kumar Singh, received the Transformational Leadership award, while IAS officer Abhishek Pandey, district magistrate of Pratapgarh, received the Social Impact award.“Uttar Pradesh is aiming to become a $1 trillion economy, and startups and deep-tech innovation will play a key role in achieving this target. We are working towards establishing two deep-tech hubs and creating an ecosystem that can support more than 20 unicorns. An investment of Rs 40 crore in startups is a step towards encouraging innovation, entrepreneurship and job creation in the state,” said principal secretary, IT and Electronics Department, Alok Kumar.Meanwhile, the summit also featured a musical performance by singer Suneel Lodhi, who performed songs from the film ‘Hanuman Ansh’.
