The Sanskriti Awards for 2009 were presented by Sanskriti Pratishthan on Friday.
Teresa Rehman, a mediaperson from northeast India; Ashok Pawar, a Marathi writer; Tejal Shah, a stage and visual media artist from Mumbai; Jyothish M G, theatre director from Kerala; and environmental
journalist and social activist Bahar Dutt are this year’s recipients.
Prof. Sunil Khilnani, director, South Asia Studies, John Hopkins University (US) gave away the 30th edition of the awards that comprise a citation and Rs 50,000 for each of the awardees.
Instituted in 1979, the Sanskriti Awards are aimed at inspiring and honouring young talent (between 25-35 years), who are striving to attain excellence in their chosen fields.
“Even though each awardee is working in different fields,” Khilnani said they are necessarily giving voice to India as it is.
“Theatre, novel or journalism … all these are living forms where a society can know what it is,” he added.