THRISSUR : Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi (KSNA) on Monday announced its fellowships and awards for the year 2024. Veena maestro A Ananthapadmanabhan, dancer Kalamandalam Saraswathy, and theatre director Xavier Pulpattu were honoured with the KSNA fellowship, consisting of Rs 50,000 cash prize, a citation and a memento. Acclaimed keyboard player Stephen Devassy, singer Minmini Joy and Koodiyattam exponent-cum-actor Kapila were selected for the Akademi award.
In addition to the fellowships, 18 artists were selected for the prestigious KSNA awards and 22 for the ‘Gurupooja Puraskaram’. The other winners of Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Awards 2024 were Cheppad A E Vamanan Namboothiri (carnatic music, vocal), Avaneeswaram Vinu (violin), Thrikkarippur Ramakrishna Marar (chenda), Mahesh Mani (thabala), Kottayam Alice (light music), Sreejith Ramanan (theatre), Ajitha Nambiar (theatre), Vijayan V Nair (theatre), Baburaj Thiruvalla (theatre), Bindhu Suresh (theatre), Kalamandalam Soman (kathakali vesham), Kalamandalam Rachitharavi (mohiniyattam), Aparna Vinod Menon (bharathanatyam), Kalabhavan Salim (mimicry), and Babu Kodanchery (kadhaprasangam).
The winners of KSNA Gurupuja Puraskaram were Babu Narendran G (carnatic music), K S Sujatha (carnatic music), Chembazhanthi Chandrababu (kadhaprasangam), Kalamandalam Leelamani T N (dance), Beny P J (guitar), Kottakkal Narayanan (kathakali sangeetham), Parassala Vijayan (theatre), P A M Haneef (theatre), M T Annoor (theatre), Kollam Thulasi (theatre actor), KPAC Rajendran (theatre), Sudarshanan Varnam (rangasilpam), K K R Kayippuram (playwright) Mannanam B Vasudevan (carnatic music), Kalamandalam Ambika (carnatic music), Kariyapilly Muhammed (light arrangement, theatre), Kuttamath Janardhanan (ottanthullal), Jayappan Palluruthi (thabala), Nettayam Sainuddin (theatre), Kiliyoor Sadan (kadhaprasangam), Mukkam Salim (mridangam), and Kalabhavan Noushad (mimicry).
KSNA secretary Karivellur Murali said the dates of the award presentation would be announced later. The KSNA Awards and Gurupooja Puraskaram carries a purse of Rs 30,000, a citation and a memento.