Tamil Nadu CM Stalin Announces Literary Awards in 7 Languages After Union Govt Cancels Sahitya Akademi Awards
The Wire Staff
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New Delhi: Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin on Sunday (January 18) announced national-level awards for literary work in seven Indian languages in response to the abrupt cancellation of Sahitya Akademi awards by the Union government in December 2025.
Stalin’s announcement came at the valedictory ceremony of the Chennai International Book Fair (CIBF).
The awards, titled ‘Semmozhi Literary Award’, will recognise literary works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Bengali and Marathi in the initial phase and will carry a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh. Separate juries will be set up for each language, the chief minister said.
The Union government had in December cancelled a presser organised by the Sahitya Akademi following a directive from the culture ministry.
Calling such political interference “dangerous”, Stalin on Sunday underlined that it was still uncertain if the Sahitya Akademi awards will be held.
The chief minister said that several writers and literary organisations had urged the Tamil Nadu government to respond to the Union government’s cancellation of the prestigious awards.
Cancellation of the Sahitya Akademi awards
The Akademi announces its awards in 24 languages each year. The juries of all the languages had finalised their awardees for 2025 and were scheduled to be announced at a press conference on December 18, 2025.
However, the announcement was cancelled minutes before it was supposed to begin owing to a circular from the Union culture ministry.
The circular noted a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that the ministry had signed with four autonomous institutions – the National School of Drama, the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the Lalit Kala Akademi, and the Sahitya Akademi – and said that an exercise of restructuring of awards needed to be taken in consultation with the ministry.
“...till such time the restructuring process is duly approved by the Ministry, no process for declaration of awards shall be undertaken without the prior approval of the Ministry,” the note said.
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