Young achievers from fields as diverse as sports, cinema, business, fashion and politics were conferred awards at a gala celebration here.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh was the guest of honour at The Society Young Achiever's Awards 2004, held at the Grand Hyatt Saturday evening.

"It's a great thing that we have some award for politicians too," said politician Milind Deora, who won the award for politics.

John Abraham, who won the award in the field of acting, said: "I think success and victory has a lot to do with one's upbringing. I'm proud that my parents had the right approach in my upbringing."

Television actress Mona Singh won the award for her role as Jassi in the TV category.

The other winners were: Amit Burman of Dabur in the business category, Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore for sports, Chetan Bhagat for literature, designer Nandita Basu for fashion, Sunil Padwal for fine arts and Deepika Padukone for glamour.

There were some great dance numbers by Bollywood actors Tushaar Kapoor, Bipasha Basu and Preeti Jhangiani and the Pakistani band, Strings.

Hostess Perizaad Zorabian had the audience riveted with her speech and dress.

This year, the jury included names like Prakash Padukone, Mohammed Azharuddin, Smita Thackeray, Mehboob Haider, Tavleen Singh, Tarun Tejpal, Sangeeta Bijlani, Neeta Lulla, Ashutosh Gowariker, Rafiq Zakaria, Vinod Dua, Rhea Pillai, Queenie Dhody and Satish Gujral.