Following are excerpts from a Pioneer report:

Versatile literary critic, translator, book editor and former Professor of the Berhampur University, Sudarshan Acharya, was conferred the coveted Atibadi Jagannath Das award for literature for the year 2006 here on Tuesday.

The award, instituted by the Orissa Sahitya Akademi, is the State’s highest honour for literature, consisted of a cash prize of Rs 25,000 and a citation. …

Thirty prominent litterateurs were felicitated and awarded on the occasion for their contributions to Oriya literature.

The awards for the years 2003 went to Shanti Mohapatra (novel), Sadananda Tripathy (short story), Gopal Krushna Rath (poetry), Mihir Kumar Meher (drama and one-act play), Sulochana Das (essay and criticism), Hrudananda Ray (biography and travelogue), Suryamani Khuntia (translation), Birakishore Padhi (children’s literature) and Narayan Prasad Singh (lyrics). The winners for 2004 were Rashmi Roul (novel), Rajanikanta Mohanty (short story), Nrusingha Kumar Rath (poetry), Dilliswar Moharana (drama and one-act play), Baishnab Charan Mohanty (essay and literary criticism), Subash Chandra Mishra (biography and travel writing), Kanan Mishra (translation), Harihar Shukla (children’s literature) and Gurukrushna Goswami (lyrics).

Each of the awards carries a cash prize of Rs 10,000, besides citations.

The twelve litterateurs felicitated for the year 2006 were Bishnu Charan Mohanty (Bhubaneswar), Subodh Kumar Chatterjee (Cuttack), Prafulla Chandra Patnaik (Puri), Rabindra Kumar Praharaj (Bhubaneswar), Hadibandhu Mirdha (Bargarh), Arabinda Mohapatra (Sambalpur), Bhagaban Nayak Barma (Bhadrak), Sabitri Devi (Cuttack), Krushna Prasad Mohapatra (Bhubaneswar), Nityananda Nayak (Bhubaneswar), Bipin Behari Khamari (Bhubaneswar) and Purnamasi Jani (Phulbani). …