Pampa Award

Pampa Prashasti
ಪಂಪ ಪ್ರಶಸ್ತಿ
Civilian award for contributions to Kannada literature
Awarded forHighest literary award of
Karnataka
Sponsored byGovernment of Karnataka
Reward(s)₹1 lakh (1987–2007)
₹3 lakh (2008–present) Present - 5 lakh
First awarded1987
Last awarded2022
Highlights
Total awarded36
First winnerKuvempu
Last winnerNa D'Souza
← 2021 Babu Krishnamurthy

The Pampa Award (or Pampa Prashasti) is a literary award in the Indian state of Karnataka. The award was established in 1987 by the government of Karnataka. It is the highest literary honor conferred by the Department of Kannada and Culture, Government of Karnataka State, and recognises works written in the Kannada language (1 of the 22 official languages of India).[1]

The award is named after the first Kannada poet Adikavi Pampa.[2] The award originally comprised a cash prize of ₹1 lakh (US$1,200), a shawl, a citation and a memento.[3] The cash prize was increased to ₹3 lakh (US$3,600) in 2008.[4] Prior to 1996, the awards were given for a best single work by a Kannada writer. Since then, the award has been given to writers for their lifetime contribution to the Kannada literature. The Pampa Prashasti is presented by the Chief Minister, during the Kadambotsava, a cultural festival held annually in Pampa's hometown of Banavasi in Uttara Kannada district.[2][5]

Since its inception in 1987, the award has been given to a more than 30 individuals.[6] Kuvempu was the first recipient of the award who was honored for his work Sri Ramayana Darshanam (1949), a modern rendition of the Indian epic Ramayana. In 2015, Chandrashekhar Patil returned his award as a sign of protest against the assassination of the scholar M. M. Kalburgi.[7] The most recent recipient is Na D'Souza, who was awarded in 2019 for his lifetime contribution.

  1. ^ "Kadambotsava from Monday". The Hindu. 1 February 2004. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Pampa award for GV". The Hindu. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  3. ^ "Dept. announces all awards at once". The Hindu. 27 June 2005. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  4. ^ "Shastri to continue to promote Kannada". The Hindu. 19 January 2009. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  5. ^ Mehu, Sowmya Aji (21 January 2004). "Kambara gets Pampa award 2003". The Times of India. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  6. ^ Kaikini, Jayant (21 April 2011). "The Raj route". The Hindu. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  7. ^ "Kalburgi murder: Kannada writer to return Pampa award". The Hindu. 7 September 2015. Archived from the original on 17 September 2015. Retrieved 17 May 2019.