The Karnataka Nataka Academy announced its list of awardees for the years 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 on August 8. A total of 93 awards have been announced under the categories of lifetime achievement award, annual award, and five other categories.
Stage and cine actor Umashree has been chosen for lifetime achievement award for the year 2022-23, poet and playwright H. S. Shivaprakash for 2023-24 and Dalit activist, poet and playwright Kotiganahalli Ramaiah for 2024-25.
The announcement of the awards comes after a controversy during the previous BJP regime in 2020. The academy had cancelled the list of awardees announced in 2019 and had issued a fresh list, denying an award to former Congress minister and actor Umashree back then.
