Literary Awards in India

Literary Awards in India

• Literary Awards, as the name suggests, are presented to Indian writers to recognize and appreciate their great work of literature and their contribution to the upliftment of the literature in India.
• It is a great initiative to promote literature and highlight the achievements of writers in literature.
• The literature work should be in an officially recognized language of India, including the English.

List of Literary Awards in India

• There are many literary awards in India that are as follows –

 

 

Gyanpeeth Award (Jnanpith Award)

• Jnanpith Award is considered as the highest literature award of India. It is also known as Gyanpeeth Award.
• Its name has been taken from Sanskrit words Jnana and Pitha which means knowledge-seat.
• It was established in 1961 and was awarded by the Gyanpeeth Trust to Indian writers.
• It is bestowed upon any Indian citizen who writes in any 22 official languages of India mentioned in VIII Schedule of Constitution of India and English.
• The awardee gets a bronze made statue of Goddess Saraswati along with a cash prize of Rs 11 Lakhs.
• The award is not presented for a single piece of writing, the nominees are selected based on their lifetime achievements.
• The first writer to receive the Jnanpith Award is G Sankara Kurup for his Malayalam poem collections “Otakuzhai” in 1965.

Sahitya Akademi Fellowship

• This is the second highest literary award of India and highest literary award conferred by government of India.
• This award was established in year 1968 and is conferred by the National Academy of Letters of Government of India, the Sahitya Akademi.
• In this award, the Akademi elects the awardee as its fellow.
• This award is conferred for immortal literature works in any of the officially approved 22 languages of India including Rajasthani and English making the total acceptable languages as 24.
• The first recipient of Sahitya Akademi Fellowship was Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a statesman, and philosopher in year 1968.
• The first woman to be elected Fellow was Mahadevi Varma, in 1979.
• First Honorary fellow (Fellowships to foreign authors) was Leopold S. Senghor from Senegal and the last honorary fellow was V. S. Naipaul in year 2010.

Sahitya Akademi Award

• This is the second highest Literature award conferred by Government of India. It is the third most renowned literary award in India in the field of literature.
• It is also conferred by Sahitya Akademi that instituted it in 1954 to recognize and honour the writers for their work of literary merit in any of the officially recognized languages of India.
• The award’s purpose is to recognise and promote excellence in Indian writing and also acknowledge new trends.
• The awardee gets a box containing a copper plaque and a shawl, including a cash prize of Rs 1 Lakh.
• Other important awards provided by Sahitya Akademi are Premchand Fellowship, Bhasha Samman, Anand Coomarswamy fellowship and Translation awards.
• First awardee and first Hindi poet to get this award was Makhanlal Chaturvedi for his book Him Tarangini in year 1955. Some other authors who were among the first awardees were Jibanandana Das (Bengali), Laxmanshastri Joshi (Marathi), Kuvempu (Kannada) and Jatindranath Dowara (Assamese).

 

Some Other Important National Level Literary Awards

Vyas Samman

• This award is conferred for Hindi Literature only.
• The Vyas Samman award was instituted by the K.K. Birla Foundation in 1991.
• Vyas Samman carries a cash prize of Rs 4 Lakhs.
• It is awarded annually to outstanding literary work in Hindi authored and published in past 10 years by an Indian citizen.
• First Awardee of award was Dr Ram Vilas Sharma, in year 1991 for his work Bharat ke Pracheen bhasha parivar aur Hindi.
• Some other notable Hindi authors who received this prize are Girija Kumar Mathur (1993), Dharmvir Bharti (1994), Ramswarup Chaturvedi (1996), Mannu Bhandari (2008) and Narendra Kohli (2012).

Bhasha Samman

• Sahitya Akademy gives these special awards to writers for significant contribution to Indian languages other than the 24 major ones and also for contributions to classical and medieval literature.
• The Sahitya Akademi instituted the Bhasha Samman in 1996. Bhasha Samman too comprise a plaque and a cash prize of Rs. 1 Lakh.
• The first Bhasha Sammans were awarded in to Dharikshan Mishra for Bhojpuri, Bansi Ram Sharma and M.R. Thakur for Pahari (Himachali), K. Jathappa Rai and Mandara Keshava Bhat for Tulu and Chandra Kanta Mura Singh for Kokborok, for their contribution to the development of their respective languages.

The Tagore Award

• It is an award given in commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) for cultural harmony.
• Established in 2011 by Government of India, it is given for outstanding achievement in fostering harmony and universalism and values of cultural harmony especially in conflict or extreme situations through innovative systems/ strategies and which have an enduring and transformational impact.
• This award carries an amount of Rs. 1 Crore, a Citation in a Scroll, a Plaque as well as an exquisite traditional handicraft/handloom item.

Yuva Puraskar

• The Yuva Puraskar also known as Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar, is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India’s National Academy of Letters, annually confers on young writers. It was established in year 2011.
• As the name suggests, this award is conferred to young writers under the age 35.
• This award is given annually for outstanding and exemplary literature works in any of 24 Indian Languages.
• The award is accompanied with cash prize of Rs 50,000 and Copper plaque.

Saraswati Samman

• Saraswati Samman was established by K.K. Birla Foundation in year 1991.
• This is provided for outstanding works in Poetry in any of the 22 Official languages of India listed in Schedule VIII of the Constitution of India and published during last 10 years.
• The award consists of Rs. 15 lakh, a citation and a plaque.
• First Awardee of the Saraswati Samman was Harivansh Rai Bachchan in year 1991 for his for his four volume autobiography, Kya Bhooloon Kya Yaad Karoon, Needa Ka Nirman Phir, Basere Se Door and Dashdwar se Sopan Tak.

Mahapandit Rahul Sankritayan Award

• This award is also called as Rahul Sankritayan National Award is a literary honor in India which Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Ministry of Human Resource Development, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in Hindi Travel Literature.
• The award was established by Kendriya Hindi Sansthan in 1989 on the name of the Father of Hindi Travel Literature Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan.
• It was first awarded in 1993 to Dr. Kamala Sankrityayan & Dr. Shyam Singh Rashi.

Bal Sahitya Puraskar

• The Bal Sahitya Puraskar also known as Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar, Instituted in on the occasion of Children’s Day, on 14 November 2010.
• The award recognised the authors for their contribution to children’s literature in Indian languages.
• The award comprises a cash prize of Rs. 50,000 and an engraved copper plaque.

Some Important Literary Awards

Kabir Samman

• • This is a National level award conferred by Culture department of Madhya Pradesh, established in the year 1986.
  • It is conferred annually for distinguished works in Literature (Poetry). The award contains cash prize of Rs 1.5 Lakhs.
  • This is one of the biggest award provided by Madhya Pradesh Government.
  • This award is provided for significant works in Poetry in different Indian languages like -Kannada, Bangla, Punjabi, Hindi, Marathi and Gujrati.

Rabindra Puraskar

• • It was awarded by Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi, Bengal State Government. It was established in year 1950.
  • This award is conferred by the state of Bengal for distinguished works in Bangla literature.
  • This is the highest literature award conferred by Bengal government.
  • First Awarded to Bibhutibhushan Bandhopadhyay, Niharanjan Ray and Satinath Bhaduri in year 1950.

Sahitya Gaurav Puraskar

• • It was established in 1983 by Gujarat Sahitya Academy, Gujarat Government.
  • First Awarded to Vishnu Prasad Trivedi.
  • This award is conferred by Gujarat state government to the authors for their exemplary contribution in Gujarati literature.
  • The cash prize associated with award is Rs 1 Lakh, plaque and shawl.

Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award

• • It was stablished in year 1958 by Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Kerala Government.
  • This award is provided by Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Kerala Government to Malyalam writers for their significant contribution towards Malyalam literature.
  • This award is given in many categories some of which are – Poetry, Novel, Story, Drama, Criticism, Biography, Autobiography etc.

 

So, this was all about the important Literary Awards of India. In the Next Post (Click Here), we will learn about the Jnanpith Award – Highest Literary Honor of India.

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