The 26th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK 2022) will mark the 19th anniversary of the Audience Poll Award (Rajata Chakoram).

Rajata Chakoram is presented to the director of a film voted as the Best Entry in Competition by the IFFK delegates. This award was popularised by ace filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan who initiated the procedure of the public paying and registering to vote for the award, making it a truly democratic process.

The Audience Poll Award was first established in 2002 and was won by filmmaker T.V. Chandran for his film Dany. There has been only one break in the cycle when the Audience Poll Award was not presented during 2020-21, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The previous award was won by the Malayalam film Jellikettu, directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery, in 2019.
Several international film festivals have followed the IFFK example and instituted audience poll awards. The voting process for IFFK’s 18th Audience Poll Award will begin on March 24, Thursday.