Udupi: The distribution of Parthi Subba Award for Yakshagana instituted by the State Government was held at the Sri Gurunarasihma Temple premises, Saligrama here on Thursday February 26.
The programme began with an invocation; G R Maithili Registrar of Karnataka Yakshagana Academy Bengaluru welcomed the gathering.
Umashree minister for Kannada and Culture and also women and child development conferred the awards. Yakshagana artiste Dr Shimanturu Narayana Shetty from Mangaluru, Puppeteer M R Ranganath from Bengaluru and writer G S Bhat from Mysuru were conferred Parthisubba award for the year 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively. The award carries a citation and a cash prize of Rs one lakh each.
Minister Umashree also presented the Yakshagana Acadamy annual awards for the years of 2013 and 2014 on the occasion. Academy president Belgal Veeranna presided over the function. Addressing the gathering Umashree said that Yakshagana is one of the complete art form in the coastal district. The government has been supporting Yakshagana. The award money to the winners of the annual Academy awards would be increased substantially from next year. On the demand made by the Academy presidents for increasing the prize money, she said that the prize of Rs 10,000 given to the winners of the honorary awards of the Academy would be increased to Rs 50,000 and the prize money of Rs 5000 given to the winners of the Academy Awards would be increased to Rs 25,000. The State government is committed to support such events like Yakshagana which depict the rich cultural, linguistic and historical heritage of the land.
Former Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Jayaprakash Hegde, Saligrama Town Panchayat president P Sadhu, senior journalist and critic A Eshwarayya, Town Panchayat member Vasumathi Nairy were present.
Academy Annual award winners for the year 2013,: Malpe Vasudeva Samaga (Udupi), Kappagere Subbaraya Bhagvata (Uttara Kannada), S V Udaykumar Shetty (Udupi), Kokkadati Krishnamurthi (Shivamogga), Bantwal Jayarama Acharya (Shivamogga), B M Nimbagallu Rudraiah (Ballari), Narayanappa Kariganuru (Ballari), E N Channabasavaiah (Tumakuru), Basavalingappa G Vibhute (Kalaburagi) and Ishwarchandra Betageri (Belagavi).
For the year 2014, the award has been given to Udyavar Jayakumar (Udupi), M E Nayak (Udupi), Krishna Bhandary (Uttara Kannada), Karnataka Samskritika Kala Prathisthana (Bengaluru), Mudakappa Hanumappa Hosur (Bagalkot), Satyakka (Hassan), Sannapalya (Chitradurga), Nelligere Thimmappachar (Mandya), Mahadevappa Avaradhi (Belagavi) and Sannabasappa (Yadgir). Each of these awards carry a cash prize of Rs 10,000 and a citation.