The first ANR award, by Akkineni International Foundation, was announced at a press meet held at Annapurna studios on 10th January, by ANR and Venkat Akkineni. Evergreen hero of the Hindi film industry, Devanand, is to be the first recipient of this award, it was announced. Chief Minister YSR will be presenting the award on the 14th of this month in Hyderabad.

Speaking to the press Venkat Akkineni, "We have incorporated Akkineni International Foundation with a corpus amount of Rs 1 Crore. We have decided to give the ANR award every year to achievers in the Arts and Sports field. The trustees of the foundation include members of our family ANR, Annapurna, Nagarjuna, Naga Susheela and I. C. Narayana Reddy, Ram Gopal Varma and Vithal are also part of the board".

ANR also spoke to the press "I entered the film industry in 1941. It was Ghantasala Balaramayya who spotted me at Bejawada railway station and offered me my first role in a movie. I am grateful to him for the future he gave me. By 1957, I completed 60 films; I was the first person to do 60 films by that time. On that occasion I felicitated all my producers in the presence of our then chief minister Sanjeevayya Reddy and Tamil Nadu chief minister Kamaraju. At that time film stars were looked upon as out casts but now they are honored by the government for the service they are doing for the people. I am giving this award to express my gratitude to the film industry".

Telling about how the Akkineni International Foundation was started ANR said "I decided to incorporate an award on my name when I received the Dada Saheb Phalke award. I was the 22nd person to receive this highest achievement for any person from the film industry. We started the Akkineni International Foundation with the 1lakh cash prize I received along with that award. Since then I have deposited 50% of my earnings into this foundation. And now that the amount has reached Rs 1 crore, we have decided that its time we started giving away the awards." Talking about how he looks at life he continued "I always believe in living even after we die. Awards like these and good deeds will keep us alive in people's minds even after we pass away. This award will be given every year as long as the Akkineni dynasty exists".

Announcing the name of the first recipient for the award ANR said "Dev Anand has been in the Indian film industry since 1945. He is an evergreen hero. Priya Ranjan Das Munshi will present the ANR award to Devanand on 14th of this month in Hyderabad at Jubilee hall. He will also be awarded Rs 3 lakhs. Chief Minister YSR has agreed to grace the occasion as the chief guest. T.Subbirami Reddy, Boney Kapoor and D. Ramanaidu were part of the award selection committee for this year".