Ezhuthachan Puraskaram
The highest literary honour bestowed by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Government of Kerala, is the Ezhuthachan Puraskaram. The award, which honours Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan, the founder of the Malayalam language, consists of a citation and a monetary prize of Rs. 5,00,000. The Ezhuthachan Puraskaram was Instituted in 1993, Padmashri Sooranad Kunjan Pillai won the maiden award, followed by Thakashi Sivasankara Pillai, Poet Balamani Amma and literary critic P Vatasala in 2021. The list of Ezhuthachan Award Winners are given below:-
List of Ezhuthachan Puraskaram (Award) Winners
| Year | Recipient |
|---|---|
| 1993 | Sooranad Kunjan Pillai |
| 1994 | Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai |
| 1995 | Balamaniamma |
| 1996 | K.M. George |
| 1997 | Ponkunnam Varkey |
| 1998 | M.P. Appan |
| 1999 | K.P. Narayana Pisharody |
| 2000 | Pala Narayanan Nair |
| 2001 | O.V. Vijayan |
| 2002 | KamalaSurayya(Madhavikutty) |
| 2003 | T. Padmanabhan |
| 2004 | Sukumar Azhikode |
| 2005 | S. Gupta Nair |
| 2006 | Kovilan |
| 2007 | O.N.V. Kurup |
| 2008 | Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri |
| 2009 | Sugathakumari |
| 2010 | M. Leelavathi |
| 2011 | M.T. Vasudevan Nair |
| 2012 | Attor Ravi Varma |
| 2013 | M.K. Sanu |
| 2014 | Vishnunarayanan Namboothiri |
| 2015 | Puthussery Ramachandran |
| 2016 | C. Radhakrishnan |
| 2017 | K. Sachidanandan |
| 2018 | M.Mukundan |
| 2019 | P.Sachidanadhan (Anand) |
| 2020 | Paul Zacharia |
| 2021 | P. Valsala |
| 2022 | Sethu |
| 2023 | S. K. Vasanthan |
Points to Remembes about Ezhuthachan Award
| Ezhuthachan Puraskaram Award for individual contributions to Malayalam literature | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Literary award in India |
| Sponsored by | Kerala Sahitya Akademi |
| Reward(s) | ₹5,00,000 and a citation |
| First awarded | 1993 |
| Last awarded | 2021 |
| Total awarded | 29 |
| First winner | Sooranad Kunjan Pillai |
| Last winner | Sethu |
