Begin Now
You can begin preparing your application now, even before the application form is available. Check your eligibility, gather your biographic information, begin writing your required paragraphs, and request letters of recommendation and your high school transcript. See below for detailed information.
Confirm that you qualify for this award
You must be a current high school junior who will be a high school senior in the Fall 2025 Semester
You must have a GPA of 3.75 or higher
Your family must be paid-up 2025 members of Marathi Kala Mandal - Greater Washington, DC (MKM)
Gather your biographic information
Your full name, birth date, home address, email address, and phone number
Your parents' full names and the name of the family member under which you and your family are MKM members
Draft your paragraphs
Draft four paragraphs (100-150 words each) describing your accomplishments during your high school years in the four areas of Karuna, Arts, Leadership and Academics.
Definitions and Examples of the four KALA Elements
K - Karuna: Activities of compassion and commitment to Social Justice and Equity. Here are some examples of activities resulting in resulting in a positive contribution to society through MKM, high school, and other community organizations:
Helping to support basic human needs such as food, shelter, clothing, civil rights and healthcare.
Mentoring or tutoring
Supporting civic and environmental responsibility
A - Arts: Efforts to perform, preserve, or promote visual and performing arts & crafts through MKM, high school, Marathi Shala, and other community institutions. Examples can include creating, performing, and helping behind the scenes of:
Performing arts such as music, theater, dance
Visual and verbal arts such as language and literature, poetry, graphic and digital arts
Crafts such as pottery, weaving, knitting, wood craft
L - Leadership: Initiatives to lead, start or play other key role in group efforts toward positive and useful contributions in MKM, high school, workplace, or the wider community. Some examples could include:
Initiating an effort to collect food and clothing for the unhoused
Leading an environmental clean-up team for a park, stream, or roadway
Organizing materials for an early childhood reading program at a local child-care center or library.
Coordinating delivery of essential health and hygiene products to local shelters
Achieving a position of responsibility at a part-time workplace
A - Academics: Outstanding scholarship, as demonstrated by:
Minimum 3.75 GPA
Statement of clear vision and goals about future academic and career paths
Gather your supporting documents
Your current official high school transcript showing your GPA (in PDF format).
Three signed letters of recommendation, in PDF format, from non-family adults, one letter each for Karuna, Arts and Leadership.
The application and selection process
You will be able to download the application form from the Application Form tab of this website starting May 15, 2025. Save it as a PDF file on your computer
Open the downloaded application form PDF file with Adobe Reader, or your browser, or whatever app you normally use to view PDF documents. The application form is a PDF document with fields into which you can type or paste your information and paragraphs. You can save the file with your answers; your answers will be preserved. You can reopen the file and add to or edit your answers as many times as necessary.
To submit your application, send an email to KalaAwardTeam@gmail.com with the following attachments: your completed application form, your three letters of recommendation, and your high school transcript, all in PDF format. Submit your application between May 15 and June 30, 2025.
An independent selection team will choose the Savkar-Loser KALA Award winner from the submitted applications. The winner will be announced by the end of July, 2025, in an MKM community email. The award will be presented at an MKM event.