President to present Sunil Gangopadhyay award on January 11

President Pranab Mukherjee would present the first Sunil Gangopadhyay Memorial Award for excellence in Bengali literature to eminent poets Nirendranth Chakravarty and Sankha Ghosh Jan 11.

While Chakravarty would get the award for 2012, Ghosh would receive the honour for 2013 at a programme at Raj Bhavan here.

The Sunil Gangopadhyay Memorial Award was instituted in 2012 by The Bengal, a Kolkata-based NGO, following the writer's demise.

The award constitutes a citation and a cash component of Rs.2 lakh. It is aimed to recognize outstanding works and contribution to Bengali literature, the NGO said in a statement.