Sangeetha Nataka Akademi awards announced

The Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi awards and fellowships for 2017 have been announced. The awards carry cash prize and citation.

K.M. Raghavan Nambiar (drama), Perumbavoor G. Raveendranath (music), and Gopinath Muthukad (magic) have been selected for the fellowships.

Those selected for the awards are Jayaprakash Karyal (drama); Kannur Vasooty (drama); Pradeep Roy (drama); Sandhya Rajendran (drama); M. Narmada (instrumental music- violin); Cherthala R. Jayadevan (instrumental music- Mrudangam); Thamarakkad Govindan Namboodiri (Classical music); Vijayan Punjar (light music); Pulimath Sreekumar ( kathaprasangam); Kalamandalam Husnabanu (mohiniyattam); Kalamandalam Oyur Ramachandran (kathakali); Kalamandalam Mohanakrishnan (ottanthullal); Kalamandalam Kanakakumar (koodiyattam); Peruvanam Satheeshan Marar (chenda); Kunissery Chandran (madhalam); Kongad Madhu (timila); and Roy Georgekutty (chavittu natakam).

Those selected for the Gurupuja awards are Balussery Sarasa (drama); Pala Thankam (drama); Varghese Kattiparamban (drama); K.V. Antony (drama); Manikandan Nair (drama); Madhavan Kunnathara (drama); Ponkunnam Ravi (music); Devadas (music); M. Ramakrishnan (music); Jose Peter (music); P. Krishnan Attingal (music); Kottakkal P.D. Namboodiri (kathakali music); Muthuppilakkad Chandrashekharan Pillai (kathakali chutti); P.K.V. Ramadas (kathakali vesham); Pallavur Raghava Pisharadi (elathalam ); and Usha Rajan (kathaprasangam).

The prize money has been increased from this year. While the cash prize of fellowships has been increased to ₹50,000 from ₹30,000, those for the awards and the Gurupuja awards go up from ₹15,000 to ₹30,000.