Renowned theatre personalities G Venkatswamy and Chindodi Srikantesh have been selected for the Karnataka Nataka Academy awards for the year 2011-12 and 2012-13 respectively.
The academy on Thursday announced its annual awards given to personalities in recognition of their contribution to the field of Kannada theatre. The award consists of Rs 10,000 and a citation.
Cultural comedian K Hirannaiah award has been given to Vaijanath S Biradar, Bidar and Helen Mysore, Mysore. The award comprises cash prize of Rs 5,000 and a citation.
Also, Dr Balanna Shigehalli has bagged the annual award for a book on theatre.
The awards would be presented by Chief Minister Jagdish Shettar at a function to be held in Indira Glass House in Hubli on October 13, said academy chairperson Malati Sudhir in Bangalore.
“The academy is giving prominence to professional theatre. We will be organising a conference on professional theatre. To encourage drama, nearly 40 workshops have been conducted for SCs/STs and backward classes. Also programmes are framed to attract children towards theatre,” she said.
Malati said she will present a proposal to the state government seeking a hike in the monthly pension of theatre artists from existing Rs1,000 per month to Rs 2,000. The awardees have been selected on the basis of their age, region and the category of the theatres they represented such as professional, children, rural and amateur.
Only persons above 45 years are eligible to be nominated for the award, Malati said.
The winners of the annual general award for the year 2011-12, which carries a cash-price of `5,000 are: Prakash Belawadi, Dingri Nagaraj, Dr Nagesh V Bettakote, Rathna Nagesh (Bangalore), Baire Gowda (Ramnagar), Sheela Hiremutt (Uttar Kannada), Indira Ambavva Chimalla (Bagalkot), Giriyappa Idya (Mangalore), Virupakshi Kambi (Belguam), Veena Modaka (Dharwad), Harige Gopalaswamy (Shimoga), Mallikarjuna Kadakola (Bidar), T Neelambike (Chitradurga), Veerabhadrappa Badigera, Basavaraj Tirlapur (Gadag).
The winners of the annual general award for the year 2012-13 are: H N Nagaraj (Mysore), K B Manjunath (Davangere), Padma Venugopal (Bangalore), Jayalakshmi Tarikere (Chikmagalur), Bibijan Kallur (Bijapur), S R Vijayalakshmi (Shimoga), Nagaraj Sagar (Koppal), Savitri Chindodi (Hubli), Sujatha Jangamashetty (Gulbarga), Appuraj (Dakshin Kannada), Kabbadi Ramachandra (Mandya), Radharukmini (Hassan), Kenchanoor Shankar (Mangalore), Basavaraj Kattimani (Bidar), Dr H R Swamy (Chitradurga).