The Saraswati Samman Award, which was instituted by the K. K. Birla Foundation in 1991, is considered as one of the highest literary awards of India. It is given for outstanding prose or poetry works in any of the languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and published during the preceding 10 years. It carries a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh, a citation and a plaque. The first recipient of the award was Harivansh Rai Bachchan in 1991.
Besides the Saraswati Samman, two other awards – the Vyas Samman (for Hindi works by Indian citizens) and Bihari Puraskar (for Hindi/Rajasthani works by Rajasthani writers) — have been instituted by the KK Birla Foundation, a literary and cultural organisation.
The complete list of recipients of the Saraswati Samman Award is given below:
1991: Harivansh Rai Bachchan – Autobiography in four volumes (Autobiography) – Hindi
1992: Ramakant Rath – “Sri Radha” (Poetry) – Oriya
1993: Vijay Tendulkar – “Kanyadaan” (Play) – Marathi
1994: Harbhajan Singh – “Rukh Te Rishi” (Poetry collection) – Punjabi
1995: Balamani Amma – “Nivedyam” (Poetry collection) – Malayalam
1996: Shamsur Rahman Faruqi – “She`r-e Shor-Angez” – Urdu
1997: Manubhai Pancholi – “Kurukshetra” – Gujarati
1998: Shankha Ghosh – “Gandharba Kabita Guccha” (Poetry collection) – Bengali
1999: Indira Parthasarathy – “Ramanujar” (Play) – Tamil
2000: Manoj Das – “Amruta Phala” (Novel) – Oriya
2001: Dalip Kaur Tiwana – “Katha Kaho Urvashi” (Novel) – Punjabi
2002: Mahesh Elkunchwar – “Yugant” (Play) – Marathi
2003: Govind Chandra Pande – “Bhagirathi” (Poetry collection) – Sanskrit
2004: Sunil Gangopadhyay – “Pratham Alo” (Novel) – Bengali
2005: K. Ayyappa Panicker – “Ayyappa Panikarude Kritikal” (Poetry collection) – Malayalam
2006: Jagannath Prasad Das – “Parikrama” (Poetry collection) – Oriya
2007: Naiyer Masud – “Taoos Chaman Ki Myna” (Short stories collection) – Urdu
2008: Lakshmi Nandan Bora – “Kayakalpa” (Novel) – Assamese
2009: Surjit Paatar – “Lafzan Di Dargah” – Punjabi
2010: S. L. Bhyrappa – “Mandra” – Kannada
2011: A. A. Manavalan – “Irama Kathaiyum Iramayakalum” – Tamil
2012: Sugatha kumari – “Manalezhuthu” (Poetry collection) – Malayalam
2013: Govind Mishra – “Dhool Paudho Par” (Novel) – Hindi
2014: Veerappa Moily – “Ramayana Mahanveshanam” (Poetry) – Kannada
2015: Padma Sachdev – “Chitt-Chete” (Autobiography) – Dogri
2016: Mahabaleshwar Sail – “Hawthan” (Novel) – Konkani
2017: Sitanshu Yashashchandra – “Vakhar” (Poetry) – Gujarati
2018: K. Siva Reddy – “Pakkaki Ottigilite” (Poetry) – Telugu
2019 : Vasdev Mohi – ‘Chequebook’ (Short Stories) – Sindhi