Sahitya Akademi awards declared

CHANDIGARH, Nov 20: Noted poet Mahender Pratap, Ram Kumar Bharadwaj and Anita Bharadwaj are those selected for this year's Haryana Sahitya A...

CHANDIGARH, Nov 20: Noted poet Mahender Pratap, Ram Kumar Bharadwaj and Anita Bharadwaj are those selected for this year’s Haryana Sahitya Akademi Awards.

A spokesman of the Akademi said local poet Mahender Pratap won the award for his work Dahan. Ram Kumar and Anita won for their combined work, Lok Kavi Avam Natyakar Ali Bakhsh.

The spokesman said that in the Sanskrit section, Madan Lal Varma was chosen for his prose Uchchhvasanaam Pratichchhay and Capt (Retd) Ram Bhagat Sharma won for his poetry collection Poonahorse Vijay. Each award carries a cash prize of Rs 5000 and recitations.

The Akademi has selected eight books for its grants-in-aid scheme according to which Rs 5000 or 50 per cent of the cost of publication is given to the authors.In the Hindi short story competition held by the Akademi, Sirf Paanch Pratishat by Puneet Bedi won the first prize. Do Perhon Ke Beech by Ram Singh Aryan and Sambandhon Ka Ahasaas by Sudarshan Ratnaka and were selected for the second and third prizes respectively. The first prize carries a cash prize of Rs 1000, the second, Rs 750, and the third, Rs 500.

During 1997-98 the Akademi received 18 manuscripts, 16 in Hindi and two in Haryanavi. After evaluation, eight books were selected for grants-in-aid. These were: Awajon Ke Jungle Mein, poetry written by Amarjit Amar from Chandigarh; Baf Ke Khilaf, poetry written by Dinesh Dadhichi from Kurukshetra; Amulya Dharohar, a short story written by Krishan Lata Yadav from Gurgaon; Us Din Maan Kahan Ahegi, a story written Man Mohan Gupta Moni from Ambala; Yayavar Tharare Huye, a novel written by Ajender Manav from Jind; Pankhuiyan Ke Swar, children’s literature by Madan Lal Verma from Kurukshetra; Meri Shav Yatrayein and Muft Huye Badnaam essays written by Manjeet Singh from Narnaul and Jaswinder Sharma from Manimajra respectively.