The
Raghupathi Venkaiah Award is
Telugu cinema's highest award introduced to annually recognize people for their lifetime achievements and contributions to the Telugu film industry. The State Government incorporated this prestigious award in 1981 in honor of
Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu, a pioneer of
Indian film industry. The winner is felicitated and presented a Golden
Nandi, a Gold medal, citation and cash prize of 50,000 at the state government's
Nandi Awards functions.