Jnanpith Award

Jnanpith Award is a literary award presented by the Bharatiya Jnanpith organization to Indian writers every year. This was instituted in 1961 and is given only to Indian writers who write in Indian languages and English.

  • Damodar Mauzo, a Goan short story writer, novelist, critic and script writer in Konkani, was awarded the 57th Jnanpith Award in 2022.
  • In 2021, Nilamani Phookan, an Indian poet in Assamese language and an academic, was awarded the 56th Jnanpith Award.
  • In 2019, Eminent Malayalam poet, Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri was chosen for the 55th Jnanpith Award for his outstanding contribution to the Malayalam language and Poetry.
  • In 2018, Amitav Ghosh is honored with the 54th Jnanpith Award for his contribution to English Literature and also became the 1st English language writer in the list as all previous winners of the prestigious award have been writers in Indian languages. He was conferred the award by former diplomat and governor of West Bengal Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who also addressed him as a ‘craftsman’.

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About Jnanpith Award

The Jnanpith Award, established in 1961, is the oldest and most prestigious literary accolade in India. It is presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to recognize authors who have made exceptional contributions to literature. This esteemed award is exclusively conferred upon Indian writers who produce works in languages listed in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India, as well as English. It is important to note that the Jnanpith Award is not granted posthumously; it is presented only to living authors.

This is an important topic for the upcoming IAS Exam.

This article is about the Jnanpith Award and will also provide you with the list of Jnanpith Award winners from 1965 to 2023 and other important information related to the same.

Preparing with UPSC Previous Year’s Question Papers will give you the edge you need to crack the toughest competitive exam in the country!!

The following links will further help their candidates in their exam preparation:

List of Jnanpith Award – Jnanpith Award Recipients (1965-2023)

Jnanpith Award was given only for a single piece of work till 1982. After 1982, the Jnanpith honour has been given for lifetime contribution to Indian literature.

The list of recipients of the Jnanpith Award is given below:

Year Jnanpith Award winners Language
1965 G. Sankara Kurup Malayalam
1966 Tarashankar Bandopadhyaya Bengali
1967 Kuppali Venkatappagowda Puttappa Kannada
1967 Umashankar Joshi Gujarati
1968 Sumitranandan Pant Hindi
1969 Firaq Gorakhpuri Urdu
1970 Viswanatha Satyanarayana Telugu
1971 Bishnu Dey Bengali
1972 Ramdhari Singh Dinkar Hindi
1973 Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre Kannada
1973 Gopinath Mohanty Oriya
1974 Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar Marathi
1975 P. V. Akilan Tamil
1976 Ashapurna Devi Bengali
1977 K. Shivaram Karanth Kannada
1978 Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan ‘Ajneya’ Hindi
1979 Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya Assamese
1980 S. K. Pottekkatt Malayalam
1981 Amrita Pritam Punjabi
1982 Mahadevi Varma Hindi
1983 Masti Venkatesh Iyengar Kannada
1984 Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai Malayalam
1985 Pannalal Patel Gujarati
1986 Sachidananda Routray Oriya
1987 Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar Marathi
1988 Dr. C. Narayana Reddy Telugu
1989 Qurratulain Hyder Urdu
1990 Vinayaka Krishna Gokak Kannada
1991 Subhas Mukhopadhyay Bengali
1992 Naresh Mehta Hindi
1993 Sitakant Mahapatra Oriya
1994 U. R. Ananthamurthy Kannada
1995 Dr. M. T. Vasudevan Nair Malayalam
1996 Mahasweta Devi Bengali
1997 Ali Sardar Jafri Urdu
1998 Girish Karnad Kannada
1999 Gurdial Singh Punjabi
1999 Nirmal Verma Hindi
2000 Indira Goswami Assamese
2001 Rajendra Keshavlal Shah Gujarati
2002 D. Jayakanthan Tamil
2003 Vinda Karandikar Marathi
2004 Rehman Rahi Kashmiri
2005 Kunwar Narayan Hindi
2006 Ravindra Kelekar Konkani
2006 Satya Vrat Shastri Sanskrit
2007 Dr. O. N. V. Kurup Malayalam
2008 Akhlaq Mohammed Khan Urdu
2009 Amar Kant Hindi
2009 Shrilal Shukla Hindi
2010 Chandrashekhara Kambara Kannada
2011 Pratibha Ray Oriya
2012 Ravauri Bharadwaja Telegu
2013 Kedarnath Singh Hindi
2014 Bhalchandra Nemade Marathi
2015 Dr. Raghuvir Chaudhari Gujarati
2016 Shanka Ghosh Bengali
2017 Krishna Sobti Hindi
2018 Amitav Ghosh English
2019 Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri Malayalam
2021 Nilamani Phookan Assamese
2022 Damodar Mauzo Konkani

** The Jnanpith Award Winner 2023 will be updated as and when it is announced.

Aspirants can go through the following relevant links to prepare for the upcoming UPSC exam even better –

List of Awards in India List of Bharat Ratna Awardees From 1954 to 2020 List of Padma Award Recipients
List of First in India Arjuna Award List of Indian Nobel Laureates – Nobel Prize Winners

Also, read the difference between Award and Reward on the linked page.

Facts About Jnanpith Award for UPSC

  1. Jnanpith Award has achieved the recognition of the highest literary award of the country.
  2. The Award is open for only Indian citizens and is given annually.
  3. English along with other Indian languages is considered for the Award.
  4. The winner is given a cash prize of Rs. 11 lakh and a bronze replica of Goddess Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of learning.
  5. The first recipient of the award was Malayalam writer G Sankara Kurup in 1965 for his novel ‘Odakkuzhal’ (The Bamboo Flute).
  6. The first woman writer to be awarded this award was Ashapoorna Devi, a Bengali writer, in 1976.
  7. The organization which presents this award was founded in 1944 by industrialist and philanthropist Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain.
  8. Jnanpith Award is sponsored by the cultural organization Bharatiya Jnanpith.
  9. The organization which presents this award was founded in 1944 by industrialist and philanthropist Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain.

Selection Process For Jnanpith Award

The award nominations are sourced from a wide range of literary experts, teachers, critics, universities, and various literary and language associations. To ensure fair selection, an advisory committee is formed every three years for each language. A notable rule is that the language in which the most recent recipient has written is not eligible for consideration for the subsequent two years.

Each language’s advisory committee is composed of three distinguished literary critics and scholars who specialize in that particular language. The committee carefully examines all the nominations and submits their recommendations to the Jnanpith Award Selection Board.

The Selection Board is comprised of esteemed individuals known for their high reputation and integrity. The board consists of seven to eleven members who serve for a term of three years, with the possibility of extension for two additional terms. To evaluate the recommendations received from the language advisory committees, the board considers complete or partial translations of the selected writings of the proposed authors into Hindi or English.

Ultimately, the Selection Board holds the final authority in the selection process and announces the recipient for a specific year.

List of Jnanpith Award Recipients – 1965 to 2023:- Download PDF Here

For more UPSC related preparation material, visit the links given in the article below:

Related Links

NCERT Books UPSC Exam Pattern Current Affairs Quiz
Third President of India National Bamboo Mission Depot Online System
Political Science Books Project Tiger in India MSME Samadhaan

Frequently Asked Questions about Jnanpith Awards

Q1

 When was Jnanpith Award instituted?
(a) 1951
(b) 1954
(c) 1961
(d) 1985

Ans. (c) 1961
Q2

Which of the following statement is not true about Jnanpith Award?
(a) It was commenced on 22nd May 1951
(b) Its first recipient was the Malayalam writer G. Sankara Kurup.
(c) It is given for 22 languages.
(d) It was established by the Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain

Ans. (a) It was commenced on 22nd May 1951 .
Q3

Jnanpith Award is given for …….languages.
(a) 14
(b) 15
(c) 24
(d) 22

Ans: (d) 22
Q4

Which of the following is considered the highest literary award in India?
(a) Jnanpith Award
(b) Saraswati Samman
(c) Sahitya Academy Award
(d) Vyas Samman

Ans. (a) Jnanpith Award.

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