Vanira Foundation Honors Literary and Technological Figures with Annual Awards

The Vanira Foundation has distributed the Vanira Awards in various categories. The foundation has decided to confer the Vanira Award upon poet and lyricist Madhav Khanal 'Bhawuk', computer scientist Muni Shakya, and fiction writer Dhanraj Giri, among others.

The foundation announced its decision to present the 'Vanira Pragya Award' to lyricist Khanal, who has been dedicated to Nepali language literature creation for seven and a half decades. Bhawuk's first work was published in the year 2009 BS. The introduction to Bhawuk's poetry collection was written by M.M.V. Shah, Balkrishna Sama, and Matrika Prasad Koirala. He has three published works and about one hundred individual articles and compositions.

Likewise, the foundation announced its decision to present the 'Vanira Shankar Award' to computer scientist Muni Shakya in recognition of his contribution to enhancing Nepal's prestige internationally by developing Nepali script on computers using his own resources and means for the past four decades, and more recently, by inventing an original humanoid robot based on artificial intelligence. The prize money for both these awards is one lakh rupees each.

Furthermore, Foundation Member Secretary Narendra Raj Prasai informed that the decision has been made to present the 'Vanira Award', with a cash prize of fifty thousand rupees, to Dhanraj Giri of Chitwan for his significant contribution to the promotion of Nepali language literature through his consistent dedication to fiction, poetry, and satirical writing.

Similarly, a decision was made to present the 'Vanira Seva Samman' (Vanira Service Honor) to Saroj Dhakal, who has been dedicated to social service since his adolescence, particularly devoted to the development of Ward No. 31 of Kathmandu Metropolitan City.

These awards, established in honor of the global woman gem of Nepali literature, Dr. Vanira Giri, will be distributed in Kathmandu on the occasion of Dr. Giri's 83rd birth anniversary on the upcoming Akshay Tritiya, the foundation also stated.

The decision was made by the foundation's meeting held today under the chairmanship of President Mrs. Indira Prasai, in the presence of the founder and patron of the Vanira Foundation, Engineer Shankar Giri.