Kathmandu, 3 January, 2018: Amidst a function held at the Office of the President, Shital Niwas on 2 January, 2018, President Bidya Devi Bhandari bestowed the Nepal Academy awards to different distinguished litterateurs of the country and the winners of the National Poetry Festival.
Chandra Ranhanchha, winner of this year’s Poetry Festival; Subas Rai ‘Captain’, second prize winner; Dipendra Upadhyay, Urmila Koirala and Amrita ‘Smriti’, third prize winners were honored with Rs 30,000, Rs 25,000, Rs 20,000 and medal respectively. The competition was held on the occasion of sixty-eighth anniversary of Nepal Academy held on June 23.
Prithvi Pragya Puraskar, an award that is presented in every four years, was presented to senior critic and essayist Prof Dr.Taranath Sharma.
Prof Dr.Bina Poudel and Dr.Ramawatar Yadav were honored with ‘Nepal Pragya Sanskrit iPuraskar’ and ‘Nepal Pragya Bhasha Puraskar’ respectively. Both of the awardees were granted with Rs 100,000 each. This year’s ‘Nepal Pragya Nepali Sahitya Puraskar’ was presented to Dhurba Sapkota.
Som Bahadur Dhimal was conferred with the ‘Nepal Pragya Matribhasa Sahitya Award-2074’ for his contribution in Dhimal language. The ‘Matribhasa Sahitya Award-2073’ was awarded to Padam Rai, while Dhan Bahadur Majhi won the award this year.
President Bhandari highlighted the necessity of litterateurs to play a role in transforming and promoting culture while bringing political changes. Jitendra Narayan, the patron of Nepal Academy and Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, mentioned that the poetry with good message and intent would have a positive effect on the world.
Source: RSS
