Gaurav Puraskar Award (Gujarat State Sangeet Natak Academy)

What is the Gaurav Puraskar Award?

Gaurav Puraskar Award is a state honour conferred by the Gujarat State Sangeet Natak Academy, an autonomous body under the Sports, Youth and Cultural Activities Department, Government of Gujarat. The award recognises artistes who have given a lifetime to the performing arts of Gujarat, classical and folk music, dance, drama and the state's folk-performance traditions.

Gaurav Puraskar, literally the "pride award", is deliberately small in money and large in standing. Each awardee receives a cash prize of Rs 1,000, a trophy and a letter of appreciation, and 12 artistes are selected each year. It sits alongside the Academy's other work of running state-level festivals and supporting the performing-arts community.

The Sports, Youth and Cultural Activities Department was created as a separate department on 17 December 1990 and handles sports, youth affairs, cultural activities, museums, archaeology, libraries and the state academies. The Gujarat State Sangeet Natak Academy, the state music and drama academy; is one of those academies, working alongside the Gujarat Literature Academy and the State Fine Arts Academy.

Who is eligible for the Gaurav Puraskar Award?

You can be considered if:

• You are a resident of Gujarat.
• You have made a distinguished contribution to music, dance, drama or folk art, demonstrated by a substantial performance record.
• You can document that record: career details, programmes performed, and photographs or slides of your work.

Gaurav Puraskar carries no income limit, no educational qualification requirement, and is open to all genders and professions. A folk performer from a village in Saurashtra and a trained classical vocalist in Ahmedabad are judged on the same basis: the body of work.

You are not eligible if:

• You are not resident in Gujarat.
• Your work lies outside the performing arts the Academy covers. Writers are the domain of the Gujarat Literature Academy and visual artists of the State Fine Arts Academy, each of which runs its own honours.
• You cannot produce evidence of a sustained contribution — a single performance or a short amateur record will not meet the bar when only 12 awards are made each year.

There is no separate route for institutions: Gaurav Puraskar is an award to individual artistes.

What does a Gaurav Puraskar awardee receive?

Beyond the citation, the award opens a working relationship with the Academy. Awardees may be included in Academy committees, and may be invited to serve as adjudicators or experts for state-level cultural programmes, the state-level Navratri festival and Kalamahakumbh among them. For a working performer, that recurring engagement is usually worth considerably more than the Rs 1,000 prize.

What documents are required for the Gaurav Puraskar Award?

How to apply for the Gaurav Puraskar Award

1. Obtain the prescribed application form for Gaurav Puraskar from the Gujarat State Sangeet Natak Academy, or download it where the Academy publishes it.
2. Fill in the form completely, giving your career details, your art form, the years you have worked in it, notable performances, productions, recordings, teaching and any earlier honours.
3. Attach the supporting material: photographs or slides of your performances, self-attested where the form asks for it, along with copies of your Aadhaar card, attested PAN card, bank passbook or cancelled cheque, identity card and passport-size photographs.
4. Submit the complete application to the Gujarat State Sangeet Natak Academy, Block 14, 2nd Floor, Dr Jivraj Mehta Bhavan, Sector 10-A, Gandhinagar 382010, in person or by post.
5. Ask for a receipt or acknowledgement from the Academy and keep it. It is your only proof of submission in an offline process.

There is no online application for Gaurav Puraskar. The whole process runs on paper through the Academy office.

How do I check the status of my Gaurav Puraskar application?

Because the process is offline, there is no status portal. Contact the Gujarat State Sangeet Natak Academy on 079-23254552 or 079-23251693, quoting the date of submission and the acknowledgement you were given. Selection results are announced by the Academy when the year's 12 awardees are finalised.

Why applications are unsuccessful

• Thin documentation of the career record. With only 12 awards a year, the performance record is the whole case, and an application that lists an art form without evidence of sustained work rarely progresses.
• No acknowledgement obtained, so the applicant cannot show the file was ever received.
• Wrong academy. Literature and visual-arts practitioners applying to the Sangeet Natak Academy are directed to the Gujarat Literature Academy or the State Fine Arts Academy instead.
• Missing PAN or bank details, which hold up the cash prize even after selection.
• Residence outside Gujarat.

When are Gaurav Puraskar applications invited?

Gaurav Puraskar is an annual award with 12 selections a year, and the Academy invites applications through its own announcements. A specific application window and last date could not be confirmed on an official Gujarat government source at the time of writing, so this guide does not state one. Contact the Academy directly on 079-23254552 to ask when the current year's applications close, rather than relying on a date from a secondary site.

Where do I get help or complain?

• Gujarat State Sangeet Natak Academy: Block 14, 2nd Floor, Dr Jivraj Mehta Bhavan, Sector 10-A, Gandhinagar 382010 to 079-23254552, 079-23251693.
• Sports, Youth and Cultural Activities Department: sycd.gujarat.gov.in.
• Gujarat scheme directory: mariyojana.gujarat.gov.in, where Gaurav Puraskar is listed among the department's schemes.

No fee is prescribed for applying, and no intermediary can secure the award for you. Selection is made by the Academy on the strength of the artistic record.