THRISSUR: Five writers have won the Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2011 for their contributions to the children’s literature. Seven books of poetry, six novels, five collections of short stories, a book of folk tales and plays also won the award. This is the second Bal Sahitya Puraskar. The awards were announced at a press conference held here on Tuesday.
Sahitya Akademi secretary Agrahara Krishnan Murthy said the awards were recommended by eminent jury members representing 24 languages and approved by the executive board of Sahitya Akademi which met under the leadership of its president Sunil Gangopadhyay.
Sailen Gosh (Bengali), Shyam Dutt Parag (Dogri), Late Ramesh Parekh (Gujarati), Harikrishnan Devasare (Hindi) and Maheswar Mohanty (Odiya) won the awards for their total contribution to children literature. K Pappootty (Malayalam), N D’Souza (Kannada), Hundraj Balwani (Sindhi), Gajnan Jog (Konkani), Siddhartha Sarma (English) and Bandita Phukan won the awards for novels.
Nov Nabi Aatash (Kashmiri), Snehalata Raj (Nepali), Darshan Singh Asht
(Punjabi), Abhiraja Rajendra Mishra (Sanskrit), Nuhum Hembram (Santali), M L Thangappa (Tamil) and Aadil Aseer Dehlavi (Urdu) won awards for poetry.
Those who won awards for short stories include Maheswar Narzary (Bodo), Mayanath Jha (Maithili), Dileep Prabhavalkar (Marathi), Harish B Sharama (Rajasthani) and M Bhoopal Reddy (Telugu). ;ENS