This time, stage artiste, writer, and Telugu actor Gollapudi Maruti Rao has been selected for the Loknayak Foundation Award 2015 for his contribution to the Telugu cinema and literature.

Announcing this at a press conference here on Monday, coinciding with his birthday celebrations, Loknayak Foundation Trust president Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad said that Mr. Maruti Rao would be receiving the 11th award of the trust. “Telugu people have been making significant contributions in the fields of art and literature. Unfortunately, a very few have been honoured with ‘Jnanpith award’. Loknayak Foundation Award aims at plugging this gap,” Prof. Lakshmi Prasad said.

He lamented that except a few scholars and writers like Viswanatha Satyanarayana, C. Narayana Reddy, and Ravuri Bharadwaja, most are not getting due recognition in the literary world. The annual event would be celebrated to honour achievers across the globe, he said.

The trust that launched in 2005 honoured several scholars and writers, including well-known writer Kalipatnam Ramarao (popularly known as Kaara Mastaru), human rights activist and Telugu writer P. Lalita Kumari (known as Olga) and eminent Telugu Sanskrit scholar Venkata Subbanna Satavadhani.

As part of the annual literary achievement award function, a cash award of Rs.1.25 lakh and a citation would be presented to Mr. Maruti Rao on January 18, 2015 at Kalabharathi auditorium, marking the death anniversaries of former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N.T. Rama Rao and poet Harivash Rai Bachchan, father of actor Amitabh Bachchan.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News>Visakhapatnam / by Staff Reporter / Visakhapatnam – November 25th, 2014