The Sahitya Akademi awards were announced on Thursday in Panaji, Goa.

Poets Mangal Singh Hazorary (Bodo) and Jadumani Besra (Santhali) are among those who will be honoured by the Akademi this year. This is the first time that the newly recognised Bodo and Santhali languages have been selected for the awards, president Gopichand Narang told a press conference after the Akademi's board meeting in Panaji.

"The books were selected on the basis of recommendations made by a jury of three members in the concerned languages in accordance with the procedure laid down for the purpose," he said.

Others who have been selected for the awards are Suresh Dalal (Gujarati), Hamidi Kashmiri (Kashmiri), Vivekanand Thakur (Maithili), late Arun Kolatkar (Marathi), Swami Rambhadracharya (Sanskrit), and Dholan Rahi (Sindhi).

The awards would be presented in a special ceremony on February 21 at New Delhi.