Sahitya Akademi announced Bal Sahitya Puraskar for the year 2015

Sahitya Akademi on 24 June 2015 announced Bal Sahitya Puraskar for the year 2015. The awards were conferred on five novelists, four writers of short stories and three authors of poetries, one book of one-act play and eleven writers for their contribution to children’s literature.

The awarded books were published between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2013 and the awards will be presented to the awardees on 14 November 2015 at Mumbai.

Awardees in Novel section: Tiren Boro (Bodo), Sowmya Rajendran, Niveditha Subramaniam (English), Ramnath G Gawade (Konkani), Ramdeo Jha (Maithili) and Mukti Upadhyay ‘Baral’ (Nepali).

Awardees in short stories Section: Nayeem Kashmiri (Kashmiri), Thockchom Thouyangba Meitei (Manipuri), Krishna Kumar ‘Ashu’ (Rajasthani) and Janardan Hegde (Sanskrit).

Awardees for collection of Poetry: Tara Chand Kalandri (Dogri), Srikanta Saren (Santali) and Sella Ganpathi (Tamil), Bano Sartaj (Urdu).

Total Contribution To Children Literature: Eli Ahmed (Assamese), Kartik Ghose (Bengali), Dhiruben Patel (Gujarati), T S Nagraja Shetty (Kannada), Sivadas (Malayalam), Leeladhar Hegde (Marathi), Snehlata Mohanty (Odia), Sukhdev Madpuri (Punjab), JethoLalwani (Sindhi) and Chokappu Venkataramana (Telugu).

Instituted by the Sahitya Akademi, the Bal Sahitya Puraskar comprises 50000 rupees and a casket containing an engraved copper plaque and a citation.

The awards were recommended by Jury members representing 24 Indian languages and approved by the Executive Board of Sahitya Akademi that met under the chairmanship of President of Sahitya Akademi Dr. Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari.