Karnataka Tulu Academy chooses nine eminent personalities for its annual honourary awards for three years

Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy announces annual awards for literature, theatre, and folk personalities for 2022-2024.

The Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy has announced its annual honourary awards for the years 2022, 2023 and 2024 to three personalities each from the fields of literature, theatre and folk.

Literature and research award for 2022 was announced to Raghupathi Kemthur (71) from Udupi while that of theatre and cinema would be presented to Rathnamala Purandara (65) from Bengaluru and Prabhakar Sherigar (70) from Udupi was chosen for the folk award, said Academy President Taranath Gatti Kapikad in a release.

Seemanthur Chandrahasa Suvarna (70) from Mumbai, Nekkidapuni Gopalakrishna (77) from Bengaluru and Lakshmana Kantha (65) from Kananthoor were chosen for the literature, theatre and folk awards, respectively, for 2023.

For the year 2024, Yashvanth Boloor (70), Sarojini Shetty (60) and B.K. Deva Rao (80) were chosen in the fields of literature, theatre and folk fields respectively.

The awards, carrying a ₹50,000 purse and citation, would be presented to the awardees at a programme on March 15 at the Tulu Bhavana in Mangaluru, Mr. Kapikad said.

Mr. Kemthur has obtained a D.Phil degree for his thesis on the names of places of Tulunadu from Mysore University in 1981. His works, including Tulunadina Sthalanadhyana, Tulu Mattu Kannada Sthalanama Vastukosha and Hesarinallenide, give detailed accounts of the names of places in Tulunadu.

A native of Panambur, Ms. Purandara is settled in Bengaluru and has acted in over 30 Tulu plays. As a singer, she has released over 70 cassettes.