List of Sahitya Akademi Award winners for Tamil

Sahitya Akademi Award
Award for the most outstanding books of literary merit
Awarded for	Second-highest literary honour in India
Sponsored by	Sahitya Akademi, Government of India
Reward(s)	₹1 lakh (US$1,300)
First awarded	1955
Last awarded	2021
Highlights
Total awarded	58
First winner	R. P. Sethu Pillai
Last winner

The Sahitya Akademi Award is the second-highest literary honor in India. The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, aims at "promoting Indian literature throughout the world". The Akademi annually confers on writers of "the most outstanding books of literary merit". The awards are given for works published in any of the 24 languages recognised by the akademi.^[1] Instituted in 1954, the award recognizes and promotes excellence in writing and acknowledge new trends. The annual process of selecting awardees runs for the preceding twelve months. As of 2015, the award comprises a plaque and a cash prize of ₹1 lakh (US$1,300).^[1][2]

The inaugural edition of the award recognised works in twelve languages – Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. In Tamil, the first recipient of the award was R. P. Sethu Pillai, who was honored for his collection of essays entitled Tamil Inbam in 1955. Posthumous recipients of the award include Kalki Krishnamurthy (1956), Bharathidasan (1969), Ku. Alagirisami (1970), Aadhavan Sundaram (1987), C. S. Chellappa (2001), (2008). As of 2015, the award has been presented to 56 writers.

Rules and criteria for submissions[]

Although the Akademi is under the control of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, it functions as an autonomous body. To be eligible for the award, the work must be an "outstanding contribution to the language and literature to which it belongs". It can be a "creative" or a "critical" work; translations, anthologies, abridgments, compilations, annotation, and research papers are ineligible. To contest in a particular year, the work must have been published during the last five years, prior to the preceding year.^[a] In case of tiebreakers, the literary contribution and "standing" of the authors would be taken into consideration. Only Indian nationals are eligible for the award. The award will be not be given if there are no more than two contestants in the final round. The works of authors who have been awarded earlier by the Akademi – translation prize, Bal Sahitya Puraskar and Yuva Puraskar are exceptions though – are ineligible. Further, the author must not be a recipient of the or the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship. The works of members of the executive board of the Akademi are ineligible for the award. Incomplete works may be considered for the award only if a part of the work, under which it competes, is deemed "complete". A posthumous publication is eligible only if the author has been deceased for over five years starting from the current year. The Akademi does not consider direct submissions from authors or publishers.^[1]

Selection process[]

The Akademi will prepare a "ground list", shortlisted from a set of eligible books in each of the recognized languages. Each language will have an "Advisory Board" member, who will shortlist and form and send a panel consisting of not more than five members to the President of the Akademi.^[1]

The preliminary panel consists of ten referees, who are nominated by the President upon requests received from the members of the "Advisory Board". The recommendations received from members of the "Advisory Board" of each languages will be compiled and sent to the corresponding referees, who in turn will select two entries. A committee of three members, selected by the President, out of a panel of seven names recommended by the Language "Advisory Board", chooses the awardee in each language. The jury members are selected by the President after considering the recommendations in this behalf by the members of the Language Advisory Board concerned. The Akademi purchases the books recommended by the referees in the preliminary round and sends them to the jury members and the Convener. The jury members arrive at the winners, based on consensus or by majority. The jury also has the right to declare that no book is eligible for the award during a particular year b.^[1]

List of recipients[]

Key

Denotes posthumous recipients

List of recipients, year, and work^[3]

Year	Recipient	Work	Notes
1955	R. P. Sethu Pillai	Tamil Inbam	A collection of essays
1956	Kalki Krishnamurthy	Alai Osai	A novel
1957	No award
1958	C. Rajagopalachari	Chakravarti Tirumagan	A retelling of the Ramayana
1959	No award
1960	No award
1961	Mu. Varadarajan	Agal Vilakku	A novel
1962	Mi. Pa. Somasundaram	Akkarai Cheemaiyil Aarumathangal	A travelogue
1963	Akilan	Vengaiyin Maindhan	A Historic novel
1964	No award
1965	P. Sri Acharya	Sri Ramanujar	A biography
1966	Ma. Po. Si.	Vallalar Kanda Orumaippaadu	A biography
1967	K. V. Jagannathan	Virar Ulagam	A Literary criticism
1968	A. Srinivasa Raghavan	Vellai Paravai	A poetry
1969	Bharathidasan	Pisirantaiyar	A play
1970	Ku. Alagirisami	Anbalippu	A collection of short stories
1971	Na. Parthasarathy	Samudaya Veedhi	A novel
1972	D. Jayakanthan	Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal	A novel
1973	Rajam Krishnan	Verukku Neer	A novel
1974	K. D. Thirunavukkarasu	Thirukkural Needhi Illakkiyam	A literary criticism
1975	R. Dhandayudham	Tharkkala Tamizh Illakkiyam	A literary criticism
1976	No award
1977	Indira Parthasarathy	Kuruthip Punal	Novel
1978	Vallikannan	Pudukavithaiyin Thottramum Valarchiyum	Criticism
1979	Thi. Janakiraman	Sakthi Vaithiyam	Short stories
1980	Kannadasan	Cheraman Kadali	Novel
1981	M. Ramalingam	Puthiya Urai Nadai	Criticism
1982	B. S. Ramaiya	Manikkodikalam	Literary history
1983	T. M. Chidambara Ragunathan	Bharathi: Kalamum Karuthum	Literary criticism
1984	Lakshmi	Oru Kaveriyai Pola	Novel
1985	A. S. Gnanasambandan	Kamban: Putiya Parvai	Literary criticism
1986	Ka. Naa. Subramaniam	Ilakkiyathukku oru Iyakkam	Literary criticism
1987	Aadhavan Sundaram	Mudalil Iravu Varum	Short stories[4]
1988	V. C. Kulandaiswamy	Vaazhum Valluvam	Literary criticism
1989	La Sa Ra	Chintanadi	Autobiographical Essays
1990	Su. Samuthiram	Veril Pazhutha Pala	Novel
1991	Ki. Rajanarayanan	Gopallapurathu Makkal	Novel
1992	Kovi. Manisekaran	Kutralakurinji	historic novel
1993	M. V. Venkatram	Kathukal	Novel
1994	Ponneelan	Pudhiya Dharsanangal	Novel
1995	Prapanchan	Vanam Vasappadum	Novel
1996	Ashoka Mitran	Appavin Snehidar	Short stories
1997	Thoppil Mohamed Meeran	Chaivu Narkali	Novel
1998	Sa. Kandasamy	Visaranai Commission	Novel
1999	S. Abdul Rahman	Aalapanai	Poetry
2000	Thi. Ka. Sivasankaran	Vimarsanangal Mathippuraikal Pettikal	Literary criticism
2001	C. S. Chellappa	Sutanthira Daagam	Novel[4]
2002	Sirpi Balasubramaniam	Oru Giraamattu Nadi	Poetry
2003	Vairamuthu	Kallikattu Ithikasam	Novel
2004	Tamilanban	Vanakkam Valluva	Poetry
2005	G. Thilakavathi	Kalmaram	A novel
2006	Mu. Metha	Akayathukku Aduthaveedu	Poetry
2007	Neela Padmanabhan	Ilai Uthir Kaalam	A novel
2008	Melanmai Ponnusamy	Minsarapoo	Short story[5]
2009	Puviarasu	Kaioppam	Poetry
2010	Nanjil Nadan	Soodiya Poo Soodarka	A collection of short stories[6]
2011	Su. Venkatesan	Kaval Kottam	A novel[7]
2012	Daniel Selvaraj	Thol	A novel[8]
2013	Joe D Cruz	korkai	A novel
2014	Poomani	Agngnaadi	A novel
2015	A. Madhavan	Ilakkiya suvadugal	A collection of essays
2016	Vannadasan	Oru Siru Isai	Short stories
2017	Inkulab	Kaandhal Naatkal	Poetry
2018	S.Ramakrishnan	Sanjaaram	Novel
2019	Cho.Dharman	Sool	Novel
2020[9]	Imaiyam	Sellaatha Panam	Novel
2021	C. S. Lakshmi (Ambai)	Sivappu Kazhuthudan Oru Pachai Paravai	Short Stories

Notes[]

References[]