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National Academy Awards and National Exhibition of Art

Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi has awarded its National awards to following 15 artists from various parts of the country this year: Ajay Kumar Kanwal (Vadodara), Avni Bansal (Delhi), Bharath Sayam (Secunderabad), Chandan Agrawal (Lucknow), Jyotirmay Dalapati (Kolkata), L. Raja (Vadodara), Madan Kisan Pawar (Thane), Manjunath V. Kalledevar (Bengaluru), Mithilesh Choubey (Mumbai), Murugan Thangaraj (New Delhi), Ramkumar. K (Chennai), Roy Sarat (Jalpaigurai), Soghra Khurasani (Vadodara), Suvajit Mondal (Santiniketan), Vijay Pichumani (Chennai).

A Jury consisting of Anupam Sud, Parthiv Shah, Paula Sengupta, Soumik Nandy Majumdar, G. Ravinder Reddy and Justin Ponmany decided the National Akademi awards. The Jury selected the awardees out of 218 works selected from 6100 entries submitted by 2344 artists.

The National Akademi award carries a Prize Money of Rs.1.00 Lakh, Copper Plaque and a Certificate.

The selection of works for display in the 56th National Exhibition of Art was done by D.L.N. Reddy, Asish Kumar Das, Sachin Karne and Vishwanath Lakra. The works of art in the National Exhibition of Art contain photographs, paintings, sculptures, installations and graphic prints.

The Jury selected the works for the 56th National Exhibition of Art considering works of their challenging content, epitomizing creative features, individual commitment, discriminating quality of methods, materials used and more, so that the exhibition becomes a true representation of the dimensions of contemporary art thinking nationally.

The awards will be given away by Prof. Lokesh Chandra, President, ICCR at 6.00 pm on 19th February, 2015 at the inaugural ceremony of the National Exhibition of Art.  The ceremony will be held at Meghdoot Open air theatre, Rabindra Bhavan complex, Copernicus Marg, New Delhi.

The National Exhibition, a prestigious event of the Akademi has been concentrating upon promoting artists and art all over the country. Indian artists from all states and styles can participate in it.

As a measure to disseminate the concept of art and styles prevalent in the country, the Akademi has been organising its National Exhibition in various Indian states such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Kochi, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Goa, Lucknow, etc.

Since 1955, the Akademi has organised 55 National Exhibition of Art and presented more than 550 National Awards and Honourable mentions. The 56th National Exhibition of Art of the Akademi has organised in Delhi as a part of celebration of its 60th anniversary.