Odia poet, essayist, and former scientist at CSIR-IMMT, Ashutosh Parida will receive this year’s Sarala Puraskar, an annual literary award given by the Indian Metals Public Charitable Trust (IMPaCT) , the charitable arm of Odisha-based industrial house, Indian Metals and Ferro Alloys Ltd (IMFA).

His poetry collection ‘Bishwas De Pruthwi’, published by Prabha Publication in year 2024 was adjudged as inspiring compendium by IMPaCT.

The award ceremony will take place in Bhubaneswar on October 25, wherein the writer will be presented with a citation, copper plaque and award amount of ₹7 lakh, said IMFA in a statement.

“Seven books that made it to the final round of judging were ‘Aparna Mohanty ka Payeen Kabita’ by Aparna Mohanty, ‘Dahana Pada Bama Pada’ by Padmaja Pal, ‘Bishwas dey Pruthi’ by Ashutosh Parida, ‘Sita’ by Archana Nayak, ‘Mayabarta’ by Bijay Nayak, ‘Mokhya Mudra’ by Prakash Mahapatra and ‘Kabi ka Naam Bedbyash’ by Ramesh Prasad Panigrahi. The selections for 2026 span a rich range of literary forms — poetry (Kabita), stories (Galpa), novels (Upanyasa), short stories (Khyudra Galpa), and drama (Natak) reflecting the diversity and depth of this year’s literary offerings,” it said.

Besides this, the ‘Ila-Bansidhar Panda Kala Samman’, given every year by IMPaCT for lifetime excellence in the field of art, has also been announced for the year 2026. Guru Durga Charan Ranbir Odissi Maestro, Padma Shri and Shri Damodar Behera, Sculptor and Art Educator will be conferred.

Published - August 21, 2026 08:51 am IST