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).
The award is named after the first Kannada poet Adikavi Pampa. The award originally comprised a cash prize of , a shawl, a citation and a memento. The cash prize was increased to in 2008. 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.
Since its inception in 1987, the award has been given to a more than 30 individuals. 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. 2025's award is announced for famous writer Devanur Mahadeva.
Recipients
Year Writer Work 1987 Kuvempu Sri Ramayana Darshanam 1988 T. N. Srikantaiah Bharathiya Kavya Meemaamse 1989 K. Shivaram Karanth Mai Managala Sulliyali 1990 S. S. Bhoosnurmath Shoonya Sampadaneya Paramarshe 1991 P. T. Narasimhachar Shri Haricharitha 1992 A. N. Murthy Rao Devaru 1993 Gopalakrishna Adiga Suvarna Puthalli 1994 Sediyapu Krishna Bhatta Vichara Prapancha 1995 K. S. Narasimhaswamy Dundu Mallige 1996 M. M. Kalburgi Lifetime contribution 1997 G. S. Shivarudrappa Lifetime contribution 1998 Javare Gowda Lifetime contribution 1999 Chennaveera Kanavi Lifetime contribution 2000 L. Basavaraju Lifetime contribution 2001 Poornachandra Tejaswi Lifetime contribution 2002 M. Chidananda Murthy Lifetime contribution 2003 Chandrashekhara Kambara Lifetime contribution 2004 H. L. Nage Gowda Lifetime contribution 2005 S. L. Bhyrappa Lifetime contribution 2006 G. S. Amur Lifetime contribution 2007 Yashwant V. Chittal Lifetime contribution 2008 T. V. Venkatachala Sastry Lifetime contribution 2009 Chandrashekhar Patil Lifetime contribution 2010 Govindray H. Nayak Lifetime contribution 2011 Baraguru Ramachandrappa Lifetime contribution 2012 D. N. Shankara Bhat Lifetime contribution 2013 Kayyar Kinhanna Rai Lifetime contribution 2014 G. Venkatasubbiah Kannada lexicography 2015 B. A. Sanadi Lifetime contribution 2016 Hampanā Lifetime contribution 2017 K. S. Nissar Ahmed Lifetime contribution 2018 S. Shettar Lifetime contribution 2019 Siddalingaiah Lifetime contribution2020 C. P. Krishnakumar Lifetime contribution 2021 S.R.Ramaswamy Lifetime contribution 2022 Babu Krishnamurthy Lifetime contribution 2023 Na D'Souza Lifetime contribution 2024 B.A. Vivek Rai Lifetime contribution 2025 Devanur Mahadeva Lifetime contribution
References
Further reading
External links (in Kannada). Karnataka Sahitya Academy