New Delhi (Rajat Bansal): The Executive Board of the Sahitya Akademi in its meeting held today under the Chairmanship of its President Sri Madhav Kaushik has approved the selection of 24 writers for the Sahitya Akademi’s Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2024. The books were selected on the basis of 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. The Awards relate to books first published during the five years immediately preceding year of the Award (i.e. between 1st January 2018 and 31st December 2022). Secretary of Sahitya Akademi Dr. K. Sreenivasarao has informed that, 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. In Odia language senior writer and editor Manas Ranjan Samal has won Bal Sahitya Puraskar for his short story collection Gapa Kalika. Convener of Odia Advisory Board Dr Gourahari Das was present during the Executive Board meeting of Sahitya Akademi. The other writers selected for the Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2024 are Ranju Hazarika (Assamese), Dipanwita Roy (Bengali), Virgin Jekova Machahary (Bodo), Bishan Singh ‘Dardi’ (Dogri), Nandini Sengupta (English), Gira Pinakin Bhatt (Gujarati), Devender Kumar (Hindi), Krishnamurthy Biligere (Kannada), Muzaffar Hussain Dilbar (Kashmiri), Harsha Sadguru Shetye (Konkani), Narayanjee (Maithili), Unni Ammayambalam (Malayalam), Kshetrimayum Subadani (Manipuri), Bharat Sasane (Marathi), Basanta Thapa (Nepali), Kuldeep Singh Deep (Punjabi), Prahlad Singh ‘Jhorda’ (Rajasthani), Harshdev Madhav (Sanskrit), Dugai Tudu (Santali), Lal Hotchandani ‘Lachar’ (Sindhi), Yuma Vasuki (Tamil), P. Chandrasekhar Azad (Telugu) and Shamsul Islam Farooqi (Urdu).
