THE CP Brown Academy has selected Dr Biruduraju Ramaraju for the award of Telugu Bharati Puraskaramu-2009. This prestigious felicitation carries a cash award of Rs 2,50,000, a gold medal and a citation. Governor N D Tiwari will be presenting the award to Prof B Ramaraju, at a function on June 11 at Raj Bhavan.
B Ramaraju is a National Research Professor of Government of India, a veteran in folklore literature and a former professor and head, Department of Telugu, Osmania University.
Ramaraju was born in 1923 at Devunuru village of Warangal District in Andhra Pradesh. Apart from being a stalwart in the Telugu literary world for over 65 years, Ramaraju was also actively associated with Gandhiji’s Satyagraha movement in pre- Independence era and was sentenced to three months of imprisonment.
Ramaraju has published around 100 research papers in different Telugu and English journals, contributed over 50 articles to various Encyclopedias, and has broadcast over 100 radio talks in different languages including Sanskrit and Urdu.
During his career, he has held coveted positions like Director, Critical edition of Andhra Mahabharata Project; Director, Folklore Survey of India; Member-Convenor, Telugu Advisory Committee of Bharatiya Jnanpeeth besides others.
Ramaraju has also been the recipient of various awards like Dr Ramakrishna Rao award(1992); Atma Gauravam Award from the Government of Andhra Pradesh in 2000 and others.
CP Brown Academy was established in 2007 by the Alpha Foundation, a registered charitable trust. The objective of the academy is to promote resurgence of Telugu language and culture through various activities.
The academy has conducted competitions for best stories and novels in Telugu during 2008, and the competition for best novels in 2009 is on in association with Swathi weekly.
The awardee is selected by a jury of literary luminaries, aided by nomination called for and received from a cross section of Telugu writers/editors/critics/scholars for the purpose.