Chief Minister M.K. Stalin Presents Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi Classical Tamil Award to Scholars!

The award is given to scholars for their lifetime contribution in any of the subjects i.e. Archaeology, Epigraphy, Numismatics and Ancient Grammar and Linguistic Study.

Chief Minister M K Stalin has presented the Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi Classical Tamil Award for the sessions, 2020 to 2022. The award for this year has been given to three scholars from the Central Institute of Classical Tamil, Chennai. The award is considered to be one of the highest achievements in India.

For this year, the committee has chosen the former Vice-Chancellor M. Rajendran for the session 2020, K. Nedunchezhiyan was awarded for the year 2021 and French national Jean-Luc Chevillard was chosen for the session 2022. Out of three scholars, the former were present at the award ceremony. However, Jean-Luc Chevillard was not present at the award ceremony. All of these were awarded a cheque of INR 10,00,000, a citation plaque and a bronze replica of the donor Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi.

The Chief Minister also launched 16 books during the event. Out of these sixteen books, one was based on a handbook on road safety. The event was attended by E V Velu, Minister for Public Works and Highways, Chief Secretary V. Irai Anbu, Minister for Tamil Official Language and Tamil Culture Thangam Thennarasu, and Health Minister Ma. Subramanian

Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi is an annual award that is presented by the Tamil Nadu government to exemplaries in Tamil Literature. The award is offered for the contribution of scholars to those who have contributed well to the development of Ancient Tamil Culture and Civilization. The major subjects recognised by the college are Archaeology, Epigraphy, Numismatics, Ancient Grammar and Linguistic Study, Literary Criticism, Creative Writing, Translation and Music, Dance, Drama, Painting and Sculpture

The Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi award was introduced by the former CM out of his personal funds. He was of the opinion that scholars who help Tamil Literature and work at the international level should be encouraged for their work. The award was constituted in the year 2009 and Professor Asko Parpola from Finland was its first recipient. The award ceremony was held during the World Classical Tamil Conference that was conducted in Coimbatore in the year 2010.