KARWAR: The Pampa Prashasti, a prestigious literary award named after the 10th century Kannada poet Pampa, was conferred on noted litterateur and editor of the Kannada literary journal Sankramana Chandrashekhar Patil by Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda at a glittering function held at Banavasi during the Kadambotsava on Saturday.
Patil, popularly referred to as Champa in literary circles, is the 23rd Kannada writer to receive this award. The Kannada writers T N Srikantaiah, Kuvempu, Putina, Shivaram Karanth, S L Bhyrappa, Poornachandra Tejasvi and Yeshvant Chittal are some of the earlier recipients of this award. The award comprises a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh and a citation. Banavasi was chosen as the venue for presenting the award in 1996, when Kadambotsava, the state-level cultural festival, began to be held here.
The Kadambotsava was not held in 2009 and 2010 due to natural calamity and controversies, respectively. Although Champa was recommended for the award in 2009, he was presented with the award only this year.