Rons Bantwal

Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai

Mumbai, Jan 10: Jagajyothi Kalavrunda, a service-oriented cultural organisation based in Dombivli in the Mumbai suburban region, has announced the All-India Jagajyothi Kalavrunda Sushila Seetharam Shetty Memorial Story Award and Poetry Award for the year 2025. The Story Award has been conferred on Pragnya Mattihalli from Dharwad, while the Poetry Award has been bagged by Tejavathi H D from Hubballi.

Jagajyothi Kalavrunda has been rendering yeoman service in the social, religious, literary, cultural and educational fields and has been honouring unsung teachers every year. The organisation has also been encouraging emerging writers by publishing their works. As part of this initiative, it has been organising, for women writers across India, the Jagajyothi Kalavrunda Smt Sushila Seetharam Shetty Memorial manuscript competitions for short story collections and poetry collections every year, honouring the winners with awards. For the past 28 years, the organisation has been creating a strong literary platform and presenting many talented women writers to the world of literature.

The judges for the competition were Sa Daya, Anita P Poojari Takode, Dr G P Kusuma, Savita Arun Shetty and Anjali Madhukar Thoravi.

The organisers have informed that the annual celebration of Jagajyothi Kalavrunda will be held on Sunday, February 1, 2026, at 3.30 pm at Hotel Shivam, near the MIDC LIC Office, Dombivli East, during which the award presentation ceremony will also take place.

About Pragnya Mattihalli

Pragnya Mattihalli is serving as an assistant professor at a Government First Grade College in Dharwad. She holds MCom, MPhil, PhD and MBA degrees. Selected through the Karnataka Public Service Commission, she has served in colleges at Alnavar, Hubballi, Nargund and Dharwad. She won first prize in the All-India Kannada Poetry Competition in 2018 and has also received awards in the Utthana Short Story Competition and several other contests.

Her published works include Hudugi Nakkaga (1993), Gandhagaali (column writings), Donne Deepa Saalu, Minugele Nakshatra, Kaalana Kalanduge, Vicharanadhina Mahila Kaidigalru (research study), Bannavoresuva Ennegannadi, Ravimukhi (felicitation volume) and Desi Sampada Shalini (felicitation volume). She has received the Vibha Sahitya Award in 2015 and the Matoshree Ratnamma Heggade Sahitya Akademi Award in 2016.

About Tejavathi H D

A native of Tumakuru district, Tejavathi H D is working as a Kannada language teacher in a government school. She has published three poetry collections titled Kaalachakra, Minuguva Taare and Baa Bhavishyada Nakshatragalagona. Another poetry collection, a critical anthology and a novel are ready for publication. Her poetry collection Baa Bhavishyada Nakshatragalagona has been selected for government libraries.

Several of her poems and critical articles have been selected and published in the annual anthologies of the Karnataka Sahitya Akademi, while some poems have appeared elsewhere. She has been actively engaged in writing short stories, poems, ghazals, articles, critiques, novels, essays and columns, which have been published in newspapers and magazines such as Prajavani, Mayura, Kannada Prabha, Delhi-based Prajaapati, Udayakala, Udayavani, Avadhi, Shikshana Varthe, Nasuku, Kendasampige and Shalnudi by Azim Premji.

For the past two to three years, she has been writing regular columns in state-level newspapers. Several of her articles on education, current affairs and travel have also been published. She has been selected to read poetry at literary events such as the Mysuru Dasara Kavigoshthi, Hampi Utsava, Karnataka Sahitya Akademi Yuva Kavigoshthi, Tumakuru District Kavigoshthi and the Dharwad District Kannada Sahitya Sammelana, and has participated in programmes including the Karnataka Sahitya Akademi’s Lankeshara Shibira.

She has reviewed and introduced works of senior and junior poets from across the state. Her honours include the State-level Best Teacher Award, Savitribai Phule Award, Kavya Samman awarded by Delhi-based Prajaapati newspaper, and an award from the Chikkaballapur Kannada Sahitya Parishad. Actively involved in education, literature and organisation, she has served as the Secretary of the Tumakuru District Kannada Sahitya Parishad and has organised several programmes.