Pampa Award

The Pampa Award (or Pampa Prashasti) is a literary award in the Indian state of Karnataka. The award was established in 1987 by the government of Karnataka. It is the highest literary honor conferred by the Department of Kannada and Culture, Government of Karnataka State, and recognises works written in the Kannada language (1 of the 22 official languages of India).^[1]

Pampa Prashasti ಪಂಪ ಪ್ರಶಸ್ತಿ
Civilian award for contributions to Kannada literature
Awarded for	Highest literary award of Karnataka
Sponsored by	Government of Karnataka
Rewards	₹1 lakh (1987–2007) ₹3 lakh (2008–present) Present - 5 lakh
First award	1987
Final award	2022
Highlights
Total awarded	36
First winner	Kuvempu
Last winner	Na D'Souza
← 2021 Babu Krishnamurthy

The award is named after the first Kannada poet Adikavi Pampa.^[2] The award originally comprised a cash prize of ₹1 lakh (US$1,200), a shawl, a citation and a memento.^[3] The cash prize was increased to ₹3 lakh (US$3,500) in 2008.^[4] Prior to 1996, the awards were given for a best single work by a Kannada writer. Since then, the award has been given to writers for their lifetime contribution to the Kannada literature. The Pampa Prashasti is presented by the Chief Minister, during the Kadambotsava, a cultural festival held annually in Pampa's hometown of Banavasi in Uttara Kannada district.^[2][5]

Since its inception in 1987, the award has been given to a more than 30 individuals.^[6] Kuvempu was the first recipient of the award who was honored for his work Sri Ramayana Darshanam (1949), a modern rendition of the Indian epic Ramayana. In 2015, Chandrashekhar Patil returned his award as a sign of protest against the assassination of the scholar M. M. Kalburgi.^[7] The most recent recipient is Na D'Souza, who was awarded in 2019 for his lifetime contribution.

Recipients

Kuvempu was the first recipient of the award.

K S Narasimhaswamy was given the award in 1995.

G.Venkatasubbayya awarded in 2014

Dr. Siddalingaiah, the recent awardee, received in 2019

Year	Writer	Work	Ref.
1987	Kuvempu	Sri Ramayana Darshanam	[8]
1988	T. N. Srikantaiah	Bharathiya Kavya Meemaamse	[9]
1989	K. Shivaram Karanth	Mai Managala Sulliyali	[10]
1990	S. S. Bhoosnurmath	Shoonya Sampadaneya Paramarshe	[9]
1991	P. T. Narasimhachar	Shri Haricharitha	[11]
1992	A. N. Murthy Rao	Devaru	[11]
1993	Gopalakrishna Adiga	Suvarna Puthalli
1994	Sediyapu Krishna Bhatta	Vichara Prapancha	[12]
1995	K. S. Narasimhaswamy	Dundu Mallige	[9]
1996	M. M. Kalburgi	Lifetime contribution	[9]
1997	G. S. Shivarudrappa	Lifetime contribution	[9]
1998	Javare Gowda	Lifetime contribution	[13]
1999	Chennaveera Kanavi	Lifetime contribution	[14]
2000	L. Basavaraju	Lifetime contribution	[15]
2001	Poornachandra Tejaswi	Lifetime contribution	[16]
2002	M. Chidananda Murthy	Lifetime contribution	[17]
2003	Chandrashekhara Kambara	Lifetime contribution	[18]
2004	H. L. Nage Gowda	Lifetime contribution	[19]
2005	S. L. Bhyrappa	Lifetime contribution	[9]
2006	G. S. Amur	Lifetime contribution	[20]
2007	Yashwant V. Chittal	Lifetime contribution	[9]
2008	T. V. Venkatachala Sastry	Lifetime contribution	[21]
2009	Chandrashekhar Patil	Lifetime contribution	[22]
2010	Govindray H. Nayak	Lifetime contribution	[23]
2011	Baraguru Ramachandrappa	Lifetime contribution	[9]
2012	D. N. Shankara Bhat	Lifetime contribution	[24]
2013	Kayyar Kinhanna Rai	Lifetime contribution	[25]
2014	G. Venkatasubbiah	Kannada lexicography	[2]
2015	B. A. Sanadi	Lifetime contribution	[26]
2016	Hampanā	Lifetime contribution	[27]
2017	K. S. Nissar Ahmed	Lifetime contribution	[28]
2018	S. Shettar	Lifetime contribution	[29]
2019	Siddalingaiah	Lifetime contribution	[30]
2020	C P Krishnakumar	Lifetime contribution
2021	S.R.Ramaswamy	Lifetime contribution
2022	Babu Krishnamurthy	Lifetime contribution
2023	Na D'Souza	Lifetime contribution	[31]