Yuva Srujan Puraskar (Navsarjan Chetana Puraskar)

What is the Yuva Srujan Puraskar?

Yuva Srujan Puraskar, also known as the Navsarjan Chetana Puraskar, is an award of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government of Goa for young Goan artists who have excelled in the field of art and culture in Goa.

The scheme is a recognition award rather than a grant. Its purpose, in the Directorate's own framing, is to honour young artists for their contribution to Goan art and culture, to felicitate young artists of excellence for outstanding achievement in their field, and to recognise, encourage and identify them as Youth Artists of the State.

Goa's cultural life runs on forms that exist nowhere else in quite the same way: tiatr, the Konkani stage tradition, alongside folk forms, bhajan and kirtan, and a strong contemporary scene in film, photography and sculpture. The award list is written to cover that spread rather than a narrow fine-arts definition.

How much is the award and how many are given?

Each awardee receives:

• A memento
• A certificate of appreciation
• A financial purse of Rs 25,000 per individual

A maximum of 6 persons are considered every year, across the fields of Music and Dance, Drama and Tiatr, Folk Art, Photography and Painting, Craft, Sculpture, Bhajan and Kirtan, Literature, and Film.

Because six awards are spread across nine listed fields, not every field is recognised every year. Selection is made by a Task Force Committee of the Directorate.

Who is eligible for the Yuva Srujan Puraskar?

A person can be considered if:

• They are an individual artist. The award goes to persons, not to troupes, institutions or groups.
• Their age is between 25 and 40 years. In exceptional cases the minimum and maximum age can be relaxed by up to 5 years.
• They have made extraordinary contributions in the field of art and culture at large, and in their own field of art in particular.
• They have contributed to their field of art in Goa for a minimum of 5 years out of their career as a practising artist.

A person is not eligible if:

• They are under 25 or over 40, and the exceptional relaxation of up to 5 years is not granted.
• They are applying as a group, a troupe or an institution.
• They have already received this award once. No individual artist is eligible to avail the benefit of the scheme a second time.
• They have died before being recommended. No award is presented posthumously, except where the death occurs after the name has already been recommended, in which case the Task Force Committee may still consider the name and the award is presented posthumously.
• Their practice in Goa is shorter than 5 years.

How does the nomination work?

The Yuva Srujan Puraskar is built around recommendation, not self-application. The document list begins with a recommendation letter from an individual or an institution, followed by the recommender's ID proof and then the recommendee's papers. In practice a senior artist, a cultural institution, a tiatr or bhajan mandal, or a college department nominates the young artist.

This shapes how a strong file looks. The recommender's standing in the field carries weight, and a recommendation that describes specific work: named productions, exhibitions, published books, films, reads far better than a general endorsement.

What documents are required?

1. Recommendation letter from an individual or institution.
2. Copy of the ID proof of the recommender.
3. Birth or age proof certificate of the recommendee.
4. Biodata of the recommendee.
5. Passport-size photograph of the recommendee.
6. Photographs of performance or contribution in the particular field.
7. Certificates, if any.
8. Aadhaar card copy.
9. Copy of the first page of the bank passbook.

The photographic evidence of performance or contribution is the part most files under-serve. Dated images of actual work — a staged production, an installed sculpture, an exhibition wall; do more than a list of titles.

How to apply for the Yuva Srujan Puraskar

Nominations are accepted offline.

1. Watch for the advertisement. The Directorate of Art and Culture publishes a newspaper advertisement inviting nominations, and the 30-day window runs from that date.
2. Visit the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government of Goa, 5th floor, Shram Shakti Bhavan, Patto, Panaji, Goa 403001, and take a print of the proforma of the application form or request a hard copy from the concerned authority.
3. Fill in all mandatory fields, paste the passport-sized photograph signed across the corner, and self-attest the document copies where required.
4. Attach the recommendation letter, the recommender's ID proof, the recommendee's age proof, biodata, work photographs, certificates, Aadhaar copy and bank passbook first page.
5. Submit the duly filled and signed form with the documents to the ACO-III, Directorate of Art and Culture: telephone 0832-2404606, email aco6-dac.goa@nic.in.

What is the deadline?

Nominations must reach the Directorate within 30 days from the date of the advertisement in the newspaper. This is a real closing date, not a rolling window, and files received afterwards are not considered in that year's cycle.

Because the advertisement is the trigger, artists and institutions who want to nominate should track the Directorate's notices at artandculture.goa.gov.in and the local Goan press rather than waiting to be told.

How is the selection made and the purse paid?

A Task Force Committee of the Directorate assesses the nominations and recommends the awardees. The committee also holds the discretion to relax the age limits by up to five years in exceptional cases, and to consider a name where the artist has died after being recommended.

The financial purse of Rs 25,000 is credited to the account whose passbook first page was submitted, which is why that document sits in the mandatory list.

Why nominations are unsuccessful

• Age outside the 25 to 40 band, with no case made for the exceptional relaxation.
• Fewer than 5 years of practice in Goa, which the biodata reveals.
• No recommendation letter, where the file has been submitted as a self-application.
• Recommender's ID proof missing, which leaves the recommendation unverifiable.
• Nomination filed after the 30-day window from the advertisement.
• The artist has already received this award.
• Weak evidence of contribution, a biodata with no supporting photographs or certificates.

Where do I get help?

The Directorate of Art and Culture, Government of Goa, 5th floor, Shram Shakti Bhavan, Patto, Panaji, Goa 403001, administers the award. The ACO-III handling this scheme can be reached on 0832-2404606 or at aco6-dac.goa@nic.in. The Directorate publishes its citizen charter and scheme list at artandculture.goa.gov.in.

The Government of Goa's public grievance registration route on goaonline.gov.in is available where a departmental response does not settle a complaint.

Practical advice

• Line up the recommender early. A well-drafted recommendation from a respected figure in the same field is the strongest element of the file, and drafting it inside the 30-day window is rushed.
• Assemble the portfolio before the advertisement appears. Dated photographs, programme sheets and reviews take time to gather.
• Check the age carefully against the advertisement date. An artist about to turn 41 should be nominated this cycle, not next.
• The Directorate of Art and Culture runs a family of recognition schemes for Goan artists at different career stages, including the D. D. Kosambi Research Fellowship for scholars. An artist just outside the 25 to 40 band may find a different Directorate scheme a better fit.

How to check your application status

The Yuva Srujan Puraskar has no online tracking system, no application ID and no status-check page on the Directorate's portal. Because a nomination is a paper file submitted to the ACO-III and the award is decided once a year by the Task Force Committee, checking on it means following up directly rather than logging into a dashboard.

1. Confirm receipt first. Within a week or two of submission, call the ACO-III at the Directorate of Art and Culture on 0832-2404606 or email aco6-dac.goa@nic.in and ask them to confirm the nomination has been logged against the recommendee's name. Keep the acknowledgement or receipt stamp from the day of submission as proof of the date filed.
2. Ask which stage the file is at. The office can usually tell a caller whether a nomination is still being compiled with others received against that year's advertisement, has gone to the Task Force Committee for assessment, or has already been decided.
3. Watch for the announcement rather than a personal notice. Selected awardees are typically informed once the Task Force Committee finalises the list, and the result is also carried through the Directorate's own notices and local press coverage around the felicitation function. Checking artandculture.goa.gov.in periodically, and asking the recommender to do the same, is often faster than waiting for a letter.
4. Follow up by visiting in person if the phone line is unresponsive. The Directorate is at 5th floor, Shram Shakti Bhavan, Patto, Panaji, Goa 403001. A visit with the submission receipt in hand lets the recommender or the nominated artist ask a Directorate official to physically check the file.
5. If a full cycle passes with no communication and no award announcement, treat the nomination as not selected for that year rather than pending indefinitely, since the Directorate does not carry nominations forward automatically to the next advertisement. A fresh nomination has to be filed against the next year's advertisement if the artist is still within the eligible age band.

Because the scheme runs on an annual advertisement cycle rather than continuous processing, there is no fixed number of days after which a decision is due. The 30-day nomination window closing is the only date fixed in advance; the committee's review and announcement timeline is set by the Directorate each year.