Abhijit Joshi, an alumnus of the Michener Center for Writers, has been distinguished as the Graduate School’s Outstanding Graduate Alumnus of the year.

Graduate studies spokeswoman Kathleen Mabley said the annual outstanding graduate award is given to students who get their master’s or doctoral degrees at UT and display exceptional achievements in their careers.

“What we do then is we give a $5,000 fellowship in the name of the outstanding alumnus. It is awarded to a graduate student in the same program for which the award winner graduated,” Mabley said.

Joshi has written some of the highest-grossing films in Bollywood, a term commonly used for the Hindi-language Indian film industry.

Joshi continues to work with highly successful Bollywood screenwriters, filmmaker and producers such as Yash Chopra, who is hailed as one of the most distinguished directors in the Indian film industry, said Michener Center program coordinator Marla Akin.

“We are really proud because this is the first time a graduate student from a creative program has won an outstanding alumnus award,” Akin said.