The Excellence in Education Medal

The Excellence in Education Medal, sponsored by William C. Miller and Ellen Sontag-Miller, recognizes the recipient's outstanding contributions to new or unique educational programs that teach the technologies of motion pictures, television, or other imaging sciences including emerging media technology. The award shall recognize an individual who advances the educational process at any level through innovative and inspirational methods.

In recognition of his efforts, alongside Whistling Woods International – India's premier Film & Creative Arts institute, to mainstream media and entertainment education in India and to incorporate emerging technologies into the curriculum, such as Virtual Production, Cinematic VR, AI, and cloud computing. While integrating new technologies into the school’s curriculum, Chinchlikar has also led the institution’s efforts to establish partnerships with global Media and Entertainment Technology companies to create multiple Research & Development labs at the Whistling Woods campus. By developing workflows and designing courses around these emerging technologies, Whistling Woods continues to foster a learning environment where students contribute to raising the qualitative & technical bar of the Indian Film Entertainment industry.

Chaitanya has had a multi-faceted 2-decade career in the Film, Media & Entertainment industry. He is currently at Whistling Woods International - India’s premier Film & Creative Arts institute, in the capacity of Vice President & Business Head. He also serves as the Chief Technology Officer for the institute and heads its Emerging Media initiatives. Over the past 15+ years at Whistling Woods, he has worked towards mainstreaming of Film Education particularly, and of Media & Entertainment education generally, in India’s high school, graduate & post-graduate education spectrum. He has also spearheaded Whistling Woods’ initiatives to work with Emerging Technologies, develop workflows around them, write curriculum for the same and then introduce it into the education at Whistling Woods in particular, and for the filmed entertainment industry in general. He currently serves on several public policy and innovation bodies like India’s Media & Entertainment Skills Council (MESC) and the AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming & Comics) Task Force established by the Government of India to draft India’s national policy for the AVGC industry. He also serves on the Board of Governors of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE). He has written extensively in Indian & global media outlets and is an active speaker at global seminars & conferences on the Filmed Entertainment Industry, with special focus on Education and Technology. He is also a strategic advisor to several startups in the M&E, Technology & Education verticals.