The Ananda Puraskar () is an award for Bengali literature awarded annually by the ABP Group to writers using Bengali, usually from West Bengal, India.

History The award can be traced to a comment by Annada Shankar Ray ruing the absence of literary awards in Bengal. It was started on 20 April 1958 and has been given in the same month since. Initially, there were two awards, in memory of Prafulla Kumar Sarkar and Suresh Chandra Majumdar, the founders of Anandabazar Patrika. Another award was started in 1984 in memory of Ashok Kumar Sarkar to commemorate the golden jubilee of Desh. All three awards were merged in 2000.

Awardees 1958 – Bibhutibhushan Mukhopadhyay (Prafulla Kumar Sarkar Memorial) .......Samaresh Basu (Suresh Chandra Majumdar Memorial) 1960 – Pramathanath Bishi – Kerry Saheber Munshi (novel) (Prafulla Kumar Sarkar Memorial) 1961 – Syed Mujtaba Ali 1963 - Kalidas Roy 1964 - Narayan Gangopadhyay 1966 – Sukumar Sen 1967 – Bimal Kar 1968 – Gopal Chandra Bhattacharya 1970 – Gour Kishore Ghosh 1971 – Satyajit Ray, Santosh Kumar Ghosh 1972 – Sunil Gangopadhyay – for general work 1973 – Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay<ref name="shirshendu"></ref> – Manabjomin (novel) 1974 – Moti Nandy 1975 – Shakti Chattopadhyay 1976 – Buddhadeb Guha – Halud Basanta (novel) 1978 – Nikhil Sarkar 1979 – Syed Mustafa Siraj 1980 – Probodh Kumar Sanyal 1981 – Sanjib Chattopadhyay 1982 – Samaresh Majumdar 1983 – Annada Shankar Ray 1984 – Subhas Bhattacharya – Adhunik Bangla Prayog Abhidhan (A Dictionary of Modern Bengali Usage), .......Dibyendu Palit – Sahajoddha (novel), .......Sukumar Sen, Sagarmoy Ghosh, Bimal Mitra (Ashok Kumar Sarkar Memorial)<ref name="abp"/> 1985 – Alokranjan Dasgupta 1986 – Ketaki Kushari Dyson<ref name="virgil"></ref> – Rabindranath o Victoria Ocampor Sandhane (historical novel) (Prafulla Kumar Sarkar Memorial) 1987 - Amalesh Tripathi - Itihas o Oitihashik 1988 – Abul Bashar 1989 – Sunil Gangopadhyay – Purbo-Paschim (novel) .......Amitav Ghosh – The Shadow Lines (novel) .......Nirad C. Chaudhuri – Thy Hand, Great Anarch! (autobiography) 1990 – Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay – Doorbeen (novel) .......Jay Goswami – Ghumiechho, Jhaupata? (poetry) 1991 – Subhash Mukhopadhyay, Jaya Mitra 1992 – Taslima Nasrin – Nirbachito Column (articles) 1993 – Bangla Academy (refused) .......Clinton B. Seely (Ashok Kumar Sarkar memorial) 1994 – Annada Shankar Ray, .......Shamsur Rahman, .......Anisuzzaman (Ashok Kumar Sarkar Memorial), .......Naren Biswas – Aitihyer Angikar (Audio cassettes, 13 Nos.) 1995 – Dr. Nazrul Islam – Bakul (novel), .......Debarati Mitra - Bhutera O Khuki 1996 – Akhtaruzzaman Elias – Khwabnama (novel) 1997 – Bani Basu – Maitreya Jatak (novel) (Prafulla Kumar Sarkar Memorial) ........Ketaki Kushari Dyson<ref name="virgil"/> & Sushobhan Adhikari – Ranger Rabindranath (on Tagore's colour vision) (Suresh Chandra Majumdar Memorial) 1998 – Jay Goswami<ref name="joy"/> – Jara Brishtite Bhijechhilo (novel in verse) 1999 – Mandakranta Sen – Hriday Abadhya Meye (poetry) 2000 – Taslima Nasrin – Amar Meyebela (memoirs) 2001বৈশাখী সন্ধ্যায় অভিধানগ্রন্থকে আনন্দ সম্মান , Ananda Bazaar Patrika, 22 April 2001 – Gauriprasad Ghosh – Everyman's Dictionary 2002আনন্দ পুরস্কার পাচ্ছেন বাউল–ফকিরদের কথাকার , Ananda Bazaar Patrika, 15 April 2002 – Sudhir Chakraborty – Baul Fakir Katha (folk culture) 2003প্রবীণের উচ্ছ্বাস‚ নবীনের অঙ্গীকারে উদ্বেল আনন্দসন্ধ্যায় পুরস্কৃত তিলোত্তমা , Ananda Bazaar Patrika, 27 April 2003 – Tilottama Majumdar – Basudhara (novel) 2004আনন্দ–সন্ধ্যায় শ্রীজাতকে সাহিত্য–শিরোপা , Ananda Bazaar Patrika, 18 April 2004 – Srijato – Uranto Sab Joker (poetry) 2005অকপট আত্মজীবনীকে কুর্নিশ আনন্দ–সন্ধ্যায় , Ananda Bazaar Patrika, 24 April 2005 – Mihir Sengupta – Bishad Briksha (autobiography) 2006আত্মস্থ‚ মিতভাষ কবিকে আনন্দ শিরোপা , Ananda Bazaar Patrika, 30 April 2006 – Utpal Kumar Basu – Sukh-Duhkher Sathi (poetry) 2007যুক্তিকে কুর্নিশ করছে আনন্দ পুরস্কার , Ananda Bazaar Patrika, 15 April 2007 – Dhritikanta Lahiri Choudhury – Hatir Boi (on elephants) 2008হৃদয় ও মস্তিষ্কের মেলবন্ধনে উজ্জ্বল আনন্দসন্ধ্যা , Ananda Bazaar Patrika, 27 April 2008 – Hasan Azizul Huq – Agunpakhi (novel) 2009আনন্দ-সম্মানই ঘরে ফেরাল প্রবাসী রণজিৎকে , Ananda Bazaar Patrika, 26 April 2009 – Ranajit Guha – Kabir Naam O Sarbanaam 2010নারীর 'সাদা' ভাষাকেই আনন্দ-অভিবাদন , Ananda Bazaar Patrika, 25 April 2010 – Sunanda Sikdar – Dayamayir Katha 2011বটতলায় গিয়েই আনন্দ ন্যাড়ার , Ananda Bazaar Patrika, 15 April 2011 – Gautam Bhadra – Nyara Bot-tolaye Jai Ko-bar? 2012কাব্যের আলো ছড়াল বিস্তৃত ভুবনডাঙায় , Ananda Bazaar Patrika, 29 April 2012 – Pinaki Thakur – Chumbaner Kshata (poetry) 2013হারানো শব্দের মায়ায় মুগ্ধ আনন্দ-সন্ধ্যা, Ananda Bazaar Patrika, 28 April 2013 – Ramkumar Mukhopadhyay – Dhanapatir Singhalyatra (novel) 2014নামযশের সুখ নয়, বৈশাখী আনন্দসন্ধ্যায় আনন্দ-সন্ধান, Ananda Bazaar Patrika, 16 April 2014Ananda puraskar 1420, The Telegraph (Calcutta), 16 April 2014 – Arindam Chakrabarti – Bhaatkaporer Bhabna Ebong Koyekti Aatpoure Darshanik Prayas (philosophy) 2015 – Swapnamoy Chakraborty – Holde Golap 2016 – Sudhir Dutta – Tabu Moi o Srestho Kobitaguccho 2017 – Anisuzzaman – Bipula Prithibi (The Vast World) 2018 – Santosh Rana – Rajniti Ek Jibon 2019 – Nalini Bera – Subarnarenu Subarnarekha 2023 – Dr. Purnendu Bikas Sarkar – Gitabitan Tathyobhandar 2025 – Smaranjit Chakraborty 2026 – Parimal Bhattacharya – Satgaonr Haoatantira

See also Rabindra Puraskar Bankim Puraskar Sahitya Akademi Award to Bengali Writers Bangla Academy Award

References

External links Contributors to the Rabindranath Section of Parabaas, Biographical data in website of Parabaas Bookstore