Overview
- The award will be presented during the inaugural session of the third SOA Literary Festival at Siksha 'O' Anusandhan's Bhubaneswar campus.
- The honour carries Rs 7 lakh, a citation, a silver idol of Goddess Saraswati, and a shawl.
- This year’s two-day festival runs November 29–30 under the theme Culture, Creativity and Artificial Intelligence, organised by SOA’s PPRACHIN centre.
- Organisers expect about 100 writers, artists and thinkers to take part across 30 sessions.
- Akhtar’s selection follows a career decorated with five National Film Awards, 15 Filmfare Awards, the Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan and the Sahitya Akademi Award.