Greetings!

The “Sahitya Academy” awards for 2022 were announced on August 24, 2022. “Bala Sahitya Puraskar” was awarded for a Tamil short story collection –  “Malligavin Veedu”( Malliga’s House) by Mrs G. Meenatchi. “Bala Sahitya Puraskar” is expected by many to aid and encourage the growth of children’s literature. But, the choice for award this year – “Malligavin Veedu” is disappointing.

One of the stories in this collection is – “Appavai Yaen Pidikkum?”(Why I like my dad?). There are many ordinary reasons listed in this story. In the end – a student says, “I like my dad so much, because he married my mom.” This feels like a funny inuendo in a debate and we cannot understand how this was considered a children’s story.

Most of the stories in this collection cannot be considered story worthy. All of the collection feels like an amateurish attempt. This feels like a work from the 80’s lacking of any modernity (peppering the work with English words doesnot make it modern). This cannot be considered a new attempt, new method of storytelling or a as a work that conveys something that has not be told thus far.

Conferring awards to the most deserving helps the field grow. But, the selection committee of this year’s Bala Sathiya Puraskar in Tamil seems to be intent on making sure that modern children’s literature in Tamil does not grow any further.

It does not seem like the awardee’s stories and books have made an impact or has set an example in the world of Tamil children’s literature. The awardee’s works also does not seem to have reached any children or children’s authors before the award. The accusation that Bala Sahitya Puraskar is awarded to those who have close ties with the selection committee seems to be true. This year’s selection reaffirms the allegation.

We deeply condemn this the Tamil Bala Sahitya Puraskar selection committee and request Sahitya academy to ensure that deserving works be awarded in the future.

We also place the following recommendations to ensure that the future selections for the Bala Sahitya Puraskar are just:

1. The award selection committee should only include personnel who are involved in modern children’s literature.
2. The practice currently is only to release a final short list. In addition, the process by which the final short list was decided and the list of committee members who recommended those works should also be released.
3. Officials of Sahitya academy and the consulting committee members should be aware of the current trends in children’s literature.
4. To ensure that the process is just, there should be transparency in the selection process.
5. The selection committee should publish a report on why the awarded book is more deserving than the others in the final short list.

-Tamilnadu Children’s Writers & Artists Association.