BAL SAHITYA PURASKAR 2011

Noted Kannada Writer Na. D'Souza bags Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2011 for his Novel.

Seven books of poetry, six of novels, five of short stories, 
one of folk tales & plays and five writers for their Total Contribution to Children Literature 
have won the Bal Sahitya Puraskar this year.
The Awards were recommended by distinguished Jury members representing 24 Indian 
languages and approved by the Executive Board of the Sahitya Akademi which met today 
under the Chairmanship of Sri Sunil Gangopadhyay, President of the Sahitya Akademi.
Those who have won the Awards for their collection of poetry include Gh. Nabi Aatash
(Kashmiri),  Snehalata Rai (Nepali),  Darshan Singh Asht (Punjabi),  Abhiraja Rajendra 
Mishra (Sanskrit), Nuhum Hembram (Santali), M.L. Thangappa (Tamil) and  Aadil Aseer 
Dehlavi (Urdu).
Those who have won the Awards for their collection of short stories include Maheswar 
Narzary (Bodo), Mayanath Jha (Maithili), Dileep Prabhavalkar (Marathi), Harish B. Sharma
(Rajasthani) and M. Bhoopal Reddy (Telugu).
Those who have won the award for their novels are  Bandita Phukan (Assamese), 
Siddhartha Sarma (English) and Hundraj Balwani (Sindhi),  N. D’souza (Kannada) and 
Gajanan Jog (Konkani), and K. Pappootty (Malayalam). K. Shantibala Devi (Manipuri)  for 
her book of folk tales & plays has been honoured.
Sailen Ghosh (Bengali), Shyam Dutt Parag (Dogri), (late) Ramesh Parekh (Gujarati), 
Harikrishan Devsare (Hindi) and Maheswar Mohanty (Odia) are  among those honoured 
with the Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2011 for their Total Contribution to Children Literature.

The books and writers for total contribution were selected on the basis of 
recommendations made by a Jury of three members in the concerned languages in 
accordance with the procedure laid down for the purpose.  According to the procedure, the 
Executive Board declared the Awards on the basis of unanimous selections made by the 
Jurors or selection made on the basis of majority vote.  The Awards relate to books first 
published during the five years immediately preceding the year of Award (i.e., between 1 
January 2005 and 31 December 2009). However, during the initial five years i.e. from 
2010 to 2014, the award may be given to an author based on his/her total contribution to 
Children Literature if no book is considered suitable for the award.
The Award in the form of a casket containing an engraved copper-plaque and a cheque 
of Rs. 50,000/- will be presented to the  awardees at a  special function to be held in 
November 2011.