Jnanpith Award

Jnanpith Award Latest News

Recently, Tamil lyricist and author R. Vairamuthu has been selected for the Jnanpith Award for the year 2025.

About Jnanpith Award

• It is the highest literary honour of India, given to writers who have excelled in literature in different Indian languages.
• It was instituted in 1961. 
• Award: The prize carries a cash prize of Rs 11 lakh, a bronze statuette of Vagdevi (Goddess Saraswati), and a citation.
• It is sponsored by the cultural organization Bharatiya Jnanpith.
• The first recipient of the award was Malayalam poet G. Sankara Kurup, who received the award in 1965 for his collection of poems Odakkuzhal.

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Eligibility and Rules

• It is given every year to an author for his/her outstanding contribution towards Indian literature through creative writing in any of the Indian languages mentioned in Schedule VIII of the Indian Constitution and English.
• Only those creative writers who are alive and are Indian citizens, can be proposed for the Award.
• A language which receives the award in a particular year is not eligible for consideration for the next two years. 
• A writer who receives the Award once will not be considered again.
• The Award may not be given in a particular year if the Jnanpith Award Selection Board feels that there is no suitable name which comes up to the expected standard of the Award.

Source: TH