THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Writer M T Vasudevan Nair was named the recipient of Kerala Jyothi, the highest civilian honour instituted by the state government as it announced the maiden Kerala awards. The awards have been instituted on the lines of the Padma awards given by the Union government.
The names of nine others were also declared. The Kerala Prabha award will be presented to three persons – playwright Omchery N N Pillai, former bureaucrat T Madhava Menon and actor Mammootty.
The Kerala Shree will be awarded to six persons – amphibian biologist Sathyabhamadas Biju, magician Gopinath Muthukad, sculptor Kanayi Kunjiraman, industrialist Kochouseph Chittilappilly, nuclear engineer M P Parameswaran and playback singer Vaikom Vijayalakshmi.
The selection was done in three levels. They were the secretary-level preliminary screening committee, scrutiny committee and award committee.
The award committee comprised filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, retired IAS officer T K A Nair and writer Khadija Mumtaz. The LDF government had announced the decision to institute the Kerala awards last year. It has fixed the number of awards to be presented. It has also decided not to give cash as part of the award.