Biju Patnaik Sports Awards

What are the Biju Patnaik Sports Awards?

Biju Patnaik Sports Awards are the highest honour the Government of Odisha confers in the field of sport. The Sports & Youth Services Department instituted them to commemorate the service of the late Biju Patnaik, former Chief Minister of Odisha, towards the development of sports and games in the state.

The current rules are set out in the department's notification SYS-SPW-AWARD-0004-2023, dated 5 June 2023, which repealed the earlier 2016 guidelines. Under those rules the awards pursue three stated objectives: to encourage the development of sports and games in the state, to honour meritorious sportspersons who have made the state proud, and to inspire young talent to excel by emulating seniors.

The honour is not only for athletes. Coaches, sports journalists, para-athletes, junior athletes, technical officials and even organisations that fund and promote sport all have their own category.

How many awards are there and how much money do they carry?

The department gives 8 awards every year, subject to the availability of suitable candidates.

A statue, a certificate and other deliverables allowed by government are given along with the cash award. Where more than one person is selected for a single award, each awardee receives the award money in full. The amount is not split.

The department is not bound to confer every award every year. If no suitable person is found in a category, that award is simply not given for that year.

Who is eligible for the Biju Patnaik Sports Awards?

General criteria, every category:

• The applicant should be a resident of the State of Odisha.
• The applicant should not have been convicted of any criminal offence.
• The award is conferred on a person only once in a lifetime for the concerned category.
• The award can be given posthumously to the next of kin.
• Persons found positive for drugs or banned performance-enhancing substances are not eligible.

Category-specific tests:

• Lifetime Achievement, the sportsperson must have good performances at national and international level and have continued contributing to the promotion of sports in an individual capacity after retiring from active sport. Minimum age 45 years as on 1 January of the award year.
• Outstanding Performance, a sportsperson of Odisha who achieved outstanding performance in a recognised sport during the year.
• Excellence in Coaching, a coach who has devoted a career to coaching in a major discipline and has coached sportspersons to national and international excellence. A coach here means a person employed as a coach by the state government, the Sports & Youth Services Department, SAI, OCS, sports associations, or a corporate, private or club body with regular sports activity, or a person producing outstanding results in individual capacity.
• Best Contribution to Promotion of Sports and Games, open to both individuals and organisations. An individual applicant must be at least 45 years old as on 1 January. An organisation must have contributed substantially by recruiting sportspersons, financing advanced coaching or sponsoring national and international events.
• Excellence in Sports Journalism — a journalist who has done significant work promoting and popularising sport and fighting for the causes of sport and sportspersons in Odisha. The category covers sports reporters and desk journalists of a major daily or magazine, accredited journalists under the Odisha Press Accreditation Rules 1994, freelance reporters of print or electronic media operating within Odisha, and photo journalists or cameramen-cum-correspondents.
• Best Para-Sportsperson, outstanding performance during the year in a recognised sport by a para athlete.
• Best Upcoming Athlete (Junior). A sportsperson below 21 years as on 1 January with exemplary national or international performance during the year.
• Best Sports Technical Official / Support Staff; personnel who rendered support services leading to distinguished performance at prestigious national or international events, or technical officials who achieved excellence at such events, in both cases on the recommendation of the concerned national sports federation.

You cannot apply if you are not a resident of Odisha, if you have a criminal conviction, if you have already received the award in that category, or if you have tested positive for a banned substance. Canvassing for the award in any form is prohibited and works against an application.

How to apply for the Biju Patnaik Sports Awards

1. Watch for the advertisement issued by 1 May each year on the Sports & Youth Services Department website. The prescribed form is also available at the offices of the District Collector, the District Sports Officer, the Superintendent of Police, NYKS, and the Odisha Council of Sports.
2. Fill the prescribed form for the specific category you are applying in. One form, one category. The tests differ.
3. Attach 3 passport-size photographs and adequate documentary evidence supporting the claim: certificates, result sheets, federation letters, published articles or clippings, and age and residence proof.
4. Self-attest the form and every supporting document. No gazetted officer attestation is needed.
5. Submit by 31 May to the Sports & Youth Services Department. The application may also be routed through the Collector, SP, DSO, NYKS, the concerned sports association or Odisha Council of Sports.
6. Where the department has opened online submission for a given year, use the Biju Patnaik Sports Award login on department.sportsodisha.gov.in and upload the same documents.

How are the winners selected?

Odisha's Sports & Youth Services Department runs a two-stage process.

First, a scrutiny committee headed by the Secretary of the department examines all applications and places the scrutiny result before the selection committee.

Second, an eight-member selection committee chaired by the Secretary, Sports & Youth Services Department, considers the scrutinised nominations. Its members are one Olympian or international sportsperson of the state, one Arjuna awardee of the state, one past Biju Patnaik Sports awardee, one past Biju Patnaik Sports Journalist awardee, one sports administrator of the state, the honorary secretary or a representative of the Odisha Olympic Association, and the Director-cum-Additional Secretary of the department as member convenor.

The committee recommends names for each award for approval at the level of the Hon'ble Minister, Sports & Youth Services.

Key dates in the award calendar

Awardees are invited to receive the awards in person at a special ceremony and are paid travelling and daily allowance at the rate admissible to a Grade 'A' officer.

Why applications get rejected

• Applying after 31 May. The deadline is fixed in the guidelines and late applications do not enter scrutiny.
• Thin documentary evidence. A claim of national or international performance needs result sheets or federation certificates, not a self-written summary.
• Wrong category. A coach applying under Outstanding Performance, or a junior athlete over 21, fails at scrutiny on the category test itself.
• Age computed wrongly. Age is reckoned as on 1 January of the award year, not on the date of applying.
• Missing federation recommendation for the technical official category.
• Repeat application in a category already won. The award is once in a lifetime per category.
• Canvassing, which the guidelines expressly prohibit.

Cancellation and recovery

Biju Patnaik Sports Awards may be cancelled if it is found that the award was obtained by fraudulent means. In that event the awardee is asked to refund the award along with the cash prize and statue, failing which the department recovers the cost with simple interest at 5 per cent per annum.

Help and contact

• Sports & Youth Services Department, Government of Odisha, Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar, Odisha – 751012
• Telephone: +91-674-2390268
• E-mail: deptsportsodisha@gmail.com
• District route: your District Sports Officer, who also stocks the forms

No fee is charged for applying. The prescribed form and the current-year advertisement are published free on the department website, and any demand for money to "get a name recommended" should be reported to the department.