Best Book Award Scheme (Shreshth Pustak Paritoshik Yojana)

What is the Best Book Award Scheme of the Gujarat Sahitya Akademi?

Best Book Award Scheme, known in Gujarati as the Shreshth Pustak Paritoshik Yojana, is an annual literary award run by the Gujarat Sahitya Akademi, an autonomous body under the Sports, Youth and Cultural Activities Department, Government of Gujarat. The Akademi is one of six language academies the department supports, alongside the Gujarati, Hindi, Sanskrit, Kachchhi, Urdu and Sindhi bodies, and it sits in Gandhinagar.

Best Book Award Scheme recognises books published in a single calendar year and pays a cash prize to the author. According to the scheme rules published on the Akademi's own portal, three prizes are given in each eligible literary form, so the scheme rewards a wide spread of writing rather than a single "book of the year".

Literary forms covered: adult division (11):

1. Novel
2. Short story and very short fiction
3. Drama and one-act plays
4. Humour, satire and irony
5. Essay and travel writing
6. Poetry
7. Criticism
8. Research, language and grammar
9. Autobiography, sketch, letters, biography and true accounts
10. Folk literature
11. Translation

Literary forms covered: children's division (4): poetry, story, character sketch, and drama.

Books outside these forms cannot be entered. Edited or compiled volumes are not included in the scheme at all, which is the single most common reason a submission is turned away at the counter.

How much prize money does the Best Book Award give?

Best Book Award Scheme pays, in every one of the 15 literary forms listed above:

The 2025 round applies these amounts to books published in calendar year 2025. Because the prize is per literary form, a poetry collection competes only against other poetry collections and not against novels or research volumes.

Who is eligible for the Best Book Award?

You can enter if:

• You are the author of a Gujarati book in one of the 15 listed literary forms.
• The book is a first edition published in the award calendar year, for the current round, calendar year 2025.
• You are living. The Akademi rules state that the creator must be alive at the time of application; entries for deceased authors are cancelled.
• You declare, in full, every prize you have previously received from the Akademi.

You are not eligible, and cannot apply, if:

• You have already received five prizes across the six affiliated Akademis and all literary forms taken together. The rules bar such authors from sending books, and the Akademi holds the power to cancel any application they file.
• Your book is a reprint rather than a first edition.
• Your book is an edited or compiled volume.
• You are submitting the same book under two literary forms.
• The author is no longer living.

Incomplete disclosure is treated harshly. Rule 9 of the scheme states that if details of earlier prizes are found to be incomplete, the application is cancelled outright.

How to apply for the Best Book Award

1. Open the Gujarat Sahitya Akademi scheme list at gujaratsahityaacademy.com/user/yojana/yojana_list and read the rules PDF for "Shreshth Pustak Paritoshik Yojana".
2. Click Apply against the Best Book Award Scheme and fill the online form — name, address, city, PIN code, mobile number, email, book title, division (adult or children's), literary form, year of publication and publisher name.
3. Declare whether the book is being sent by the author or the publisher. If a publisher is submitting, upload the author's written consent certificate.
4. Enter your Aadhaar number and attach a copy, then list every earlier award you have won with the book title, year and position.
5. Tick the declaration that the book was published in calendar year 2025 and that the Akademi's decision is final, then submit the form.
6. Print the submitted application.
7. Send two free copies of the book together with the printed application to the Gujarat Sahitya Akademi office in Gandhinagar, at your own postage cost, so that they arrive within the announced window.

Applications and books must both arrive. Rule 11 states that books received after the time limit will not be accepted, so posting on the last day is a real risk.

What is the last date to apply?

The Akademi's yojana list carries a single note covering schemes 2 to 7, which includes the Best Book Award Scheme 2025: applications close on 31 October 2026. The award is announced annually, so a book published in a later calendar year waits for that year's round.

What documents are required?

Why Best Book Award entries get rejected

• Edited or compiled book submitted; outside the scope of the scheme.
• Reprint rather than first edition of the award calendar year.
• Same book entered in two literary forms, which the rules forbid.
• Five prizes already won across the six Akademis.
• Previous-award details left incomplete in the form.
• Books delivered after the closing window, which the office will not accept.
• Publisher entry without the author's consent letter.

Most of these are avoidable by reading the rules PDF before filling the form. There is no appeal mechanism: rule 12 states that any question or dispute is decided finally by the Akademi and that decision binds the applicant.

How is the Best Book Award decided?

Entries are assessed form by form. The Akademi's decision on selection and on any dispute is final and binding on the applicant under rule 12 of the scheme. The rules do not publish a jury composition or a marking scheme, and the Akademi states it will not enter into correspondence once a decision has been taken.

What other Gujarat Sahitya Akademi schemes can a writer use?

Best Book Award Scheme is one of seven schemes on the Akademi's yojana list, and the five-prize cap discussed above is counted across all of them plus the affiliated Akademis. The full list, as published on gujaratsahityaacademy.com, is:

1. Financial assistance to literary and educational institutions for organising programmes and seminars
2. Financial assistance to new Gujarati writers for publishing an original work of creative literature
3. Financial assistance for the publication of distinguished (shishtmanya) books
4. Financial assistance for the creation and publication of outstanding original children's literature
5. Financial assistance for the translation of classic works
6. Monthly financial assistance to elderly and eligible writers
7. Best Book Award Scheme 2025

Schemes 1 to 6 are grants; money towards producing or publishing a book, or welfare support. Best Book Award Scheme is different: it is a prize for a book already published, so nothing has to be produced afterwards and no bills, vouchers or free copies beyond the two entry copies are required. A writer can therefore hold a publication grant for one title and separately enter a different title for the award, as long as the five-prize cap has not been crossed.

The Akademi also runs a separate Anusandhan research and fellowship route and a Sahityakar Sarvekshan (writer survey) registration, both linked from the same portal. Neither counts as a prize for the purpose of the cap.

Help and grievance contact

• Gujarat Sahitya Akademi email: gsagandhinagar@gmail.com
• Phone / WhatsApp: +91 76210 05656
• Parent department: Sports, Youth and Cultural Activities Department, Government of Gujarat: sycd.gujarat.gov.in
• Department information page for the Akademi: sahityaacademy.gujarat.gov.in

There is no fee to apply for the Best Book Award. The only cost to the author is the two book copies and the postage to send them.