Bhubaneswar : The prestigious ‘Sarala Puraskar’, given annually by the IMFA Charitable Trust (IMPaCT) for the best literary achievement, will be presented this year to the famous feminist writer Sarojini Sahoo. She will win this award for his novel ‘Asthira Pada’ published by Srujan India in 2019. On October 26, the writer will be presented with a plaque and a sum of Five Lakh rupees.

Along with Sarojini’s novel, the other books that made it to the final round of judging were Aparna Mohanty’s ‘Agni Kamalini’, Ashutosh Parida’s ‘Aprastuta Mrutyu’, Dash Benhur’s ‘Abadharita O Anyanya Galpa’, Bijay Kumar Satpathi’s ‘Kankana Dasi Katha’, Biyot Projna Tripathy’s ‘Maya’ and Padmaj Paul’s ‘Sita Mun Sita’.Dr Biranchi Kumar Sahoo, Dr Pragyan Prabartika Dash, Madhusudan Dash, Dr Jnanee Debasish Mishra, Ratnamala Swain were the preliminary judge for selection of books, while the judges for the final round were Dr Bhagaban Jayasingh, Prof Kalidas Mishra, Dr Gourahari Das, Sadananda Tripathy, Baijayanti Mishra, Sanjukta Mohanty and Tapas Kumar Samantaray.

Besides this, the ‘Ila-Bansidhar Panda Kala Samman’, given every year by IMPaCT for lifetime excellence in the field of art, has also been announced for the year 2024. Sculpture artist Sudarshan Sahoo and famous singer Tansen Singh will be given the award this year. As part of the award, both of them will be given a certificate and a plaque with an amount of two lakh rupees each. Susmita Das, Ratikant Satpathy, Sarat Nayak were the judges in the music section and Panchami Manoo Ukil, Satyabhushan Hota, Birendra Pani were the judges in the art section.

The Sarala Puraskar, instituted by eminent Odia industrialist Dr Bansidhar Panda and his wife Ila Panda in 1980, has been continuously awarded by the Indian Metals Public Charitable Trust (IMPaCT), The award giving ceremony will be held in Bhubaneswar on 26th October.