The Hindu : Pandalam Kerala Varma awards announced

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 19, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Pandalam Kerala Varma awards announced

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JAN. 18. The Mahakavi Pandalam Kerala Varma poetry award for the year 2003 is to be presented to Vishunarayanan Nambootiri, for his collection of poems `Parikramam'.

The poetry award carries a purse for Rs.10,001, a citation and a statuette.

The media award for the best editorial published in 2003, also instituted by the Pandalam Kerala Varma Smaraka Samithy, has been bagged by the Malayalam newspaper `Deepika'. It was the editorial on mineral sand mining causing ecological damage to the coastal region of Kerala, published on June 23, 2003, that fetched the newspaper the award with a cash prize of Rs.5,001, besides a citation and a statuette. The poetry award was decided by a jury comprising S. Gupthan Nair and K.S. Ravikumar and P.Ravi Varma, the president and secretary, respectively of the Samithy. It was a jury headed by R.V.G. Menon that selected the winner of the media award.

The awards were announced by Mr. Ravikumar and Mr. Ravi Varma at a press conference here. Both the awards are to be presented at a function to be held here on January 20, in connection with the 125th birth anniversary celebrations of Pandalam Kerala Varma, who was not only a Malayalam poet par excellence, but also a pioneer journalist who had edited and published the `Kavanakaumudi', a periodical which was unique in the sense that right from the mast head to the imprint, the entire printed matter was in chaste poetry. The year 2004 also happens to be the centenary year of the publication of the first issue of the `Kavanakaumudi'.

A literary seminar with separate sessions set apart for poetry and media, will also be held as part of the award presentation ceremony, they said. O.N.V. Kurup will be presenting the poetry award and Sukumar Azhikode, the media award. The seminar is to be inaugurated by K. Ayyappa Panicker. The programme is being organised jointly by the Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, the Press Club, Thiruvananthapuram and the Pandalam Kerala Varma Smaraka Samithy, they said.

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