BHUBANESWAR: The prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards and Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for 2024 and 2025 have brought laurels to Odisha, with 12 artistes from the state being selected for the two distinguished honours across dance, music, theatre and folk art categories.
For Sangeet Natak Akademi Award 2024, Odissi Guru Bichitrananda Swain has been chosen in the Odissi dance category, while Guru Ranjit Kumar Nag will receive the award for Sambalpuri folk dance. Among the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award 2025 recipients, Guru Sachidananda Das has been selected in the Mardala category, Guru Ileana Citaristi for Odissi dance, Guru Pagulu Jena for Mayurbhanj Chhau and theatre director Subodh Pattnaik for theatre direction.
The Akademi has also announced the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar 2024 for which Matruprasad Das has been selected for Odissi music, Gourishankar Das for Odissi dance and Debi Prasad Mishra for stage lighting design.
For the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar 2025, the awardees from Odisha are Namrata Mehta in Odissi, Subhashree Swain in Mayurbhanj Chhau and Ghanshyam Sahu for playwriting.