Jugal Kishore Sarangi to receive Sahitya Akademi’s Bal Sahitya Puraskar for short story

Bhubaneswar: The Executive Board of the Sahitya Akademi in its meeting held Friday under the Chairmanship of its President Madhav Kaushik has approved the selection of 22 writers for the Sahitya Akademi’s Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2023. This includes Jugal Kishore Sarangi from Odisha for his short story Jejenka Gapa Ganthii.

The books were selected on the basis of the recommendations, made by the Jury comprising three members each in the concerned language in accordance with the rules and procedure laid down for the purpose. According to the procedure, the Executive Board declares the Awards on the basis of unanimous/majority vote by the Jury.

No award in Kashmiri language this year was announced. The award in the Manipuri language will be declared at a later date. The Awards relate to books first published during the five years immediately preceding year of the Award (i.e. between 1st January 2017 and 31 December 2021).

The Award in the form of a casket containing an engraved copper plaque and a cheque of Rs. 50,000 will be presented to the awardees at a special function to be held at a later date. It is worth mentioning here that Odia author Narendra Prasad Das had been felicitated with Bal Sahitya Puraskar for the year 2022.

Similarly, Daigaraj Brahma from Odisha received the award in 2021. Odia authors Ramachandra Nayak (2020), Birendra Kumar Samanatray (2019) and Birendra Mohanty (2018) had earlier been awarded Bal Sahitya Puraskar by the Sahitya Akademi, sources added. Similarly, the board also declared the 20 winners name for Sahitya Akademi Yuva Pursakar 2023. Although no award in Odia language was announced.