Poets Saroj Bal and Pritilekha Das have been selected to receive prestigious Kabi Chandra Kumar Mohanty Yuvaprativa Smruti Samman for their significant contribution to Odia literature.
The award instituted by Kabi Chandra Kumar Mohanty Smruti Committee in memory of the poet late Chandra Kumar Mohanty is given to two selected Odia poets every year. Mohanty, who died on 2010, was a progressive poet of the 1960s.
Spokesperson of the Smruti Committee Krushna Kumar Mohanty said the award would be presented on September 30, the date of demise of the poet, at Baleswar on the occasion of second Smruti Utsav.
Bal, an Utkal University alumnus, has authored 21 books and owns a prestigious publication company, Timepass, at Bhubaneswar, while Das, a housewife, who also studied at Utkal University, is an emerging poet of Baleswar.