Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award is an award given by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, an autonomous organisation for the encouragement, preservation, and documentation of the performing arts of Kerala, set up by the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Government of Kerala. Instituted in 1962, the awards are given in the categories of music, dance, theatre, other traditional arts, and for contribution/scholarship in performing arts. The award consists of Rs. 30,000, a citation and a plaque. The recipients of the award are also conferred the title Kalasree. List of recipients The recipients of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award in various categories of performing arts have been listed below: Classical Music 1962 – M. A. Kalyanakrishna Bhagavathar 1962 – K. S. Narayanaswamy (Veena) 1964 – Ambalapuzha Sankaranarayana Panicker 1964 – Ambalapuzha Gopalakrishna Panicker 1966 – M. D. Ramanathan 1969 – Kottaram Sankunny Nair (Harmonium) 1971 – Palghat K. V. Narayanaswamy 1971 – Mavelikkara Krishnankutty Nair (Mridangam) 1972 – C. S. Krishna Iyer 1972 – Parur Sundaram Iyer (Violin) 1972 – Thiruvizha Raghavan Pillai (Nadaswaram) 1973 – Vaikom Vasudevan Nair 1973 – Chunangad Appu Iyer (Mridangam) 1974 – Puthucode Krishnamoorthy 1975 – Kaviyoor C. K. Revamma 1976 – Cherthala Gopalan Nair 1976 – Chittoor Sankara Panicker (Nadaswaram) 1977 – Parassala B. Ponnammal 1978 – L. P. R. Varma 1979 – K. R. Kedaranathan 1981 – Neyyattinkara Vasudevan 1981 – Mavelikkara Velukkutty Nair (Mridangam) 1982 – Trivandrum R. Venkataraman (Veena) 1982 – Kamala Kailasanathan 1982 – Mavelikkara Sankarankutty Nair (Mridangam) 1983 – P. Leela 1983 – M. K. Kalyana Krishna Bhagavathar (Veena) 1983 – T. V. Gopalakrishnan (Mridangam) 1983 – P. K. Sankaran (Nadaswaram) 1985 – Mavelikkara Prabhakara Varma 1985 – Mavelikkara S. R. Raju (Mridangam) 1986 – Vechoor Harihara Subramania Iyer 1987 – Trichur V. Ramachandran 1988 – V. V. Subrahmanyam (Violin) 1989 – Mangad K. Natesan 1990 – Renuka Girijan 1991 – K. G. Jayan 1992 – Palkulangara Ambika Devi 1992 – Tripunithura G. Narayana Swamy (Mridangam) 1993 – P. R. Kumara Kerala Varma 1993 – Rajeswari Menon (Veena) 1994 – A. K. Raveendranath 1994 – S. Hariharan Nair 1995 – Trivandrum R. Krishnaswamy 1995 – Puthukode S. Krishna (Mridangam) 1996 – Pala C. K. Ramachandran 1996 – Aranmula Govindankutty (Thakil) 1996 – Malabar Sukumaran Bhagavathar 1997 – K. Omanakutty (Vocal) 1997 – Tripunithura N. Radhakrishnan (Ghatam) 1997 – Pappukutty Bhagavathar 1998 – Neyyattinkara Mohanachandran (Vocal) 1998 – T.