KOCHI: Kerala Lalithakala Akademi announced the 52nd state exhibition awards on Sunday. Out of the 756 submissions, the works of 354 artists were selected for the state exhibition in the preliminary evaluation this year, while the best among them were given awards.
The awards were decided by a six-member jury, including painters Sudhir Patwardhan and Tom J Vattakuzhi, artist P Gopinath, film editor Beena Paul, contemporary artist V K Rajan, photojournalist Razal Shahul, cartoonist Anoop Radhakrishnan, and caricaturist Ratheesh Ravi.
“The jury found that most of the best works were received in the art students category and noticed a lot of great works in the general category. The jury evaluated this as an opportunity to identify the current trend in arts in the state,” said Murali Chithezhath, chairman, Kerala Lalithakala Akademi, while addressing the media in Kochi.
Renowned artists N N Mohandas and Sajitha R Shankar received the membership (fellowship) of the academy for their outstanding contributions to painting and sculpturing. Dr Kavita Balakrishnan’s book, Gender Politics in Visual Arts, won the award for the best book on art.