Winners of Jnanpith Award for the year 2020 and 2021 announced

• Nilmani Phukan, an Assamese poet, received the 56th Jnanpith Award, while Damodar Mauzo, a Konkani short story writer and novelist, received the 57th Jnanpith Award for their great contributions to Indian literature.
• Phukan has received the Sahitya Akademi Award (1981). In 1990, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the government of India. In 1997, he received the Assam Valley Literary Award. He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 2002.
• Mauzo is a scriptwriter as well as a critic. In 1983, he was honoured by the Sahitya Akademi.
• The Jnanpith is India's highest literary award, given to writers who write in one of the country's scheduled languages. The winner receives Rs 11 lakh as of a 2015 update. In 2019, Malayalam poet Akkitham was awarded the last Jnanpith.

Important takeaways

About Jnanpith Award

• Jnanpith Award is the oldest and the highest Indian literary award presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their outstanding contribution towards literature.
• Established: 1961
• First awarded: 1965 
• First winner: G. Sankara Kurup