Bhubaneswar: The 39th State Lalit Kala Akademi award for Visual Arts for the year 2020-21 will be conferred on eight eligible artists of the state, officials announced Tuesday at a presser here.
The awardees are : Biswaranjan Kar, Sudhiranjan Maharatha for Sculpture, Bikas Chandra Senapati for Drawing, Suryakanta Swain, Anup Kumar Chand, Jyoti Prakash Sethi for Watercolour, Pramod Kumar Maharana for Contemporary Painting and Sujit Kumar Swain for Printmaking.
The award carries a cash prize of Rs Two lakhs, a certificate, a plaque and an Uttariya. A special booklet was also released on the occasion containing the works of the artists.
According to official sources, more than 800 entries were received from 515 artists from across the state. In the first selection, the Akademi had shortlisted 237 names of which eight were finalised in the second and final round for this prestigious award.
Akademi President Sudarshan Patnaik, Culture department director Ranjan Kumar Das, Officer on Special Duty ManswiniSahoo and Akademi Secretary Gajendra Sahoo were present during the press meet.
The panel of Akademi members which selected the winners included Panchanan Samal, Akshay Kumar Samal and Shyam Sundar Meher.