Sahitya Akademi Awards | 15 Jun 2019

The Sahitya Akademi announced Bal Sahitya Puraskar and Yuva Puraskar 2019.

  • Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar relates to books first published during the five years immediately preceding the year of Award.
    • During the initial ten years (i.e. from 2010 to 2019), the award may also be given to an author based on his/her total contribution to children literature.
  • Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar relates to books published by an author of the age of 35 and below as on 1st January of the year of the award.
  • The winners of both the awards will receive a casket containing an engraved copper plaque and a cheque of Rs 50,000.

Sahitya Akademi Awards

  • Sahitya Akademi award established in 1954, is a literary honour that is conferred annually by Sahitya Akademi, India’s National Academy of letters.
  • Award is presented to the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the twenty-four major Indian languages recognized by the Akademi (including English).
  • Sahitya Akademi award is the second highest literary honour by the Government of India, after Jananpith award.
  • The award is presented in the form of a casket containing an engraved copper-plaque, a shawl and a cheque of Rs 1 lakh.
    • Indian film-maker Satyajit Ray is the designer of the plaque awarded by the Sahitya Akademi.

Criteria

  • The author must be of Indian Nationality.
  • Book/work eligible for award must be an outstanding contribution to the language and literature to which it belongs.
  • When equal merit for books of two or more are found, certain criteria like total literary contribution and standing of authors shall be taken into consideration for declaring award.