Guwahati: The Sahitya Akademi on Wednesday announced the recipients of the 2025 Yuva Puraskar and Bal Sahitya Puraskar, recognizing emerging and children’s literature talents across the country.
Among the winners, four writers from Assam and two from Manipur earned accolades for their literary contributions in Assamese, Bodo, and Manipuri languages.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
In the Bal Sahitya Puraskar category, the Akademi honored Surendra Mohan Das for his Assamese poetry collection Mainaahatar Padya, and Binay Kumar Brahma for his Bodo short story collection Khanthi Bwswn Arw Akhu Danai.
The Yuva Puraskar went to Suprakash Bhuyan for his Assamese short stories compiled in Kuchiyanama, and Amar Khungur Boro, who received the award for his Bodo poetry collection Ang Asur.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma took to social media to congratulate the winners, stating, “Congratulations to all the four winners of the Sahitya Akademi Bal Puraskar and Yuva Puraskar in Assamese and Bodo languages.
These achievements will inspire the next generation of writers to turn their thoughts into literary pieces which will be cherished by all.”
The Akademi’s Executive Board, chaired by President Madhav Kaushik, approved the list during a meeting held on Wednesday. A panel of three jury members for each language selected 23 writers for the Yuva Puraskar and 24 for the Bal Sahitya Puraskar following the organization’s official guidelines.
This year, the Akademi did not name a winner in the Dogri language for the Yuva Puraskar category, resulting in one fewer award than in the children’s literature segment.
Each awardee received a copper plaque engraved with their name and a cash prize of Rs 50,000, to be presented at a special ceremony scheduled later in the year.
Meanwhile, two writers from Manipur, AK Jiten, received the Yuva Puraskar for Epic Khoyum Nongdam Cow, and Shanto M earned the Bal Sahitya Puraskar for “Angangshinggee Shannabungsida.”
Other winners of the Yuva Puraskar include Suprakash Bhuyan (Assamese), Sudeshna Moitra (Bengali), Amar Khungur Boro (Bodo), Mayur Khavdu (Gujarati), R Dileepkumar (Kannada), Saiqa Sehar (Kashmiri), Glynis Dias (Konkani), AK Jiten (Manipuri), Neha Jha Mani (Maithili), Akhil P Dharmajan (Malayalam), , Pradeep Kokar (Marathi), Subash Thakuri (Nepali), Subrat Kumar Senapati (Odia), Mandeep Aulakh (Punjabi), Poonam Chand Godara (Rajasthani), Dheeraj Kumar Pandey (Sanskrit), Fagu Baskey (Santali), Manthan Bachani (Sindhi), Latshmihar (Tamil), Prasad Suri (Telugu), and Neha Rubab (Urdu).
The Bal Sahitya Puraskar will be given to Surendra Mohan Das (Assamese), Tridib Kumar Chattopadhyay (Bengali), Binay Kumar Brahma (Bodo), PL Parihar “Shauq” (Dogri), Kirtida Brahmbhatt (Gujarati), K Shivalingappa Handihal (Kannada), Izhar Mubashir (Kashmiri), Nayana Adarkar (Konkani), Munni Kamat (Maithili), Sreejith Moothedath (Malayalam), Shanto M (Manipuri), Suresh Sawant (Marathi), Sangmu Lepcha (Nepali), Rajakishore Parhi (Odia), Pali Khadim (Amrit Pal Singh) (Punjabi), Bhogilal Patidar (Rajasthani), Preeti Pujara (Sanskrit), Haralal Murmu (Santali), Heena Agnani ‘Heer’ (Sindhi), Vishnupuram Sarvanan (Tamil), Gangisetti Sivakumar (Telugu), and Ghazanfar Iqbal (Urdu).