SAHITYA ACADEMY AWARDS - AWARDS
News: Sahitya
Akademi Awards announced, Anuradha Roy among 23 winners
What's in the news?
● Tamil
author M. Rajendran, Telugu writer Madhuranthakam Narendra and Sanskrit Poet
Janardan Prasad Pandey ‘Mani’ were among 23 litterateurs awarded the Sahitya
Akademi Awards for 2022.
● The
Bhasha Samman was awarded to Udaya
Nath Jha for his valuable contribution to the field of classical and medieval
literature in the eastern region.
Key takeaways:
● The
awards in 23 languages included
seven books of poetry, six of novel, two of short stories, three dramas, two
literary criticism and one each of autobiographical essays, collection of
articles and literary history.
● The
awards, recommended by distinguished jury members were approved by the
Executive Board of the Sahitya Akademi which met on December 22 under its
President Chandrashekhar Kambar.
Sahitya Akademi Awards:
● It
was established in 1954, is a literary honour.
● The
award, which was established in 1954, consists of a plaque and a cash prize of
Rs. 1,000,000.
● It
is conferred by Sahitya Akademi which is India’s
National Academy of Letters.
● The
Sahitya Akademi Award prizes the most outstanding books of literary merit
published in any of the major Indian languages recognised by the Akademi.
● After
the Jnanpith award, the Sahitya Akademi award is the second-highest literary
honour bestowed by the Indian Government.
● Akademi
gives 24 awards annually to literary
works in the languages it has recognized and an equal number of awards to
literary translations from and into the languages of India.
Recognized Languages:
● The
Sahitya Akademi has recognized English
and Rajasthani as languages in which its curriculum can be executed, in addition to the 22 languages listed in the
Indian Constitution.
Sahitya Akademi Award - Criteria for Choosing Awardee:
● The
author must be an Indian National.
● A
book or work that is eligible for the award must make a significant addition to
the language and literature of the genre.
● When
two or more works have similar worth, specific factors such as overall literary
contribution and standing of authors will be considered when the prize is
announced.
Other Sahitya Akademi Awards:
● Sahitya Akademi Bal
Sahitya Puraskar is awarded to an author for his or
her overall contribution to children's literature, and it is based on novels
that were first published in the five years before the year of the award.
● The
Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar honors
novels written by authors under the age of 35.
Go back to basics:
Sahitya Akademi:
● It
is an autonomous organization under the
Ministry of Culture, encouraging the preservation and promotion of
languages, especially the unrecognized and tribal languages.
● The
Sahitya Akademi Library is one of the largest multi-lingual libraries in India,
with a rich collection of books on literature and allied subjects.
● It
publishes two bi-monthly literary
journals: Indian Literature in English and Samkaleen Bharatiya Sahitya in
Hindi.