Mangaluru : The four-day literary-cultural extravaganza, the 12th edition of Alva’s Nudisiri concluded at Moodabidri near here on Sunday with the felicitation of 10 prominent personalities who have rendered yeomen service to the country and the language with Alva’s Nudisiri Awards.

T.V. Venkatachala Shastri Nudisiri Sarvadhyaksha,In his validatary speach, said, he had attended many ‘national’ festivals, which attracted handful of people.

The Nudisiri is the true National Festival of Kannada language where thousands of people participated to take home vivid memories about the culture and language, he said.

He said thousands watched the several programmes, cultural as well as literary, that took place parallelly on different stages in the last three days.

The Nudisiri had Sahitya Siri, Kala Siri, Samskrutika Siri, Kreeda Siri, Krishi Siri and many more. The awards too had been conferred on deserving personalities, Mr. Shastri noted.

Speaking on the occasion, Alva’s Foundation Chairman and the force behind the Nudisiri M. Mohan Alva said there were a few dissenting voices about the festival.

He would not respond to them by words; but would show through constant work. This 12th edition had been the best. The theme, Karnataka: Hosatanada Hudukaata itself had been novel; people from across the State had come to attend the festival, he said.

The awardees, R.K. Padmanabha (classical music), S.V. Rajendra Singh Babu (cinema), Vidwan Bannanje Govindacharya (literature, discourse), Leelavathi Baipadithaya (Yakshagana bhaagavatike), B.N. Sumithra Bai and Sumathindra Nadiga (literature), Ishwara Daitota (media), Varthur Narayana Reddy (agriculture), Shilpi Honnachar (sculpture) and Syed Salauddin Pasha (cultural service) were presented a purse of Rs. 25,000 each, citation and shawl.

Minister of State for Youth Empowerment and Sports and Moodabidri MLA K. Abhayachandra Jain, former MLA Amaranatha Shetty and others were present.