15 National Award Categories & The Prize Money Winners Take Home!

In the midst of popular Bollywood award season that unfortunately only makes our faith gloomy in the institution of acknowledging, there is some hope. We are talking about National Awards! The only award giving jury in the country that doesn’t need any sponsor or broadcasting partner to force their sold opinions down our throat. While stars go home taking a trophy that honestly doesn’t quite hold any value to them after having won a popular award, the contentment of winning a national award is sublime.

But did you know, a certificate and a medallion isn’t the only honor they take home? Every National Award honor also carries a certain amount of cash prize. The prizes vary from different categories are largely sectioned in Golden Lotus (Swarna Kamal), Silver Lotus (Rajat Kamal) and few other sets.

While the education around the National Award winning categories is too vast to fit into an article, here we tell you 15 major National Award categories and the prize money associated with the honor:

Swarna Kamal Category

The Swarna Kamal category does not necessarily shower the winner with most money. There are several categories in the section that the jury has set according to the cinematic contribution. The winner also gets a shawl, a medallion and the cash prize depending on the category.

Best Feature Film – Cash Prize - Rs. 250000

Best Director – Cash Prize – Rs. 250000

Best Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment - Cash Prize – Rs. 200000

Best Children’s Film – Cash Prize – Rs. 150000

Best Debut Film of a Director – Cash Prize Rs. 125000

Best Animated Film – Cash Prize – Rs. 100000

Rajat Kamal Category

While the Golden Lotus Category mostly recognizes the creative aspect of filmmaking such as direction, the entire acting arena along with technical elements of filmmaking are placed in the Rajat Kamal or Silver Lotus category. Honors like art direction, cinematography, editing etc are also part of the section are given same amount of money that is Rs. 50000. Here are the categories and the cash prize:

Best Actor – Cash Prize – Rs. 50000

Best Actress – Cash Prize – Rs. 50000

Best Supporting Actor – Cash Prize – Rs. 50000

Best Supporting Actress – Cash Prize – Rs. 50000

Best Child Artist – Cash Prize – Rs. 50000

Best Music Direction – Cash Prize – Rs. 50000

Special Jury Award/Mention

There’s a special jury award that is given for the excellent contribution in cinema in a certain area while a special jury mention is merely an encouraging consolation.

Special Jury Award – Cash Prize – Rs. 250000

Special Jury Mention – No Cash Prize, Only a certificate of appreciation

Best Critic

Did you know the jury also honors the best critic across the country for contributing productively to the art of cinema? The winner gets a cash prize of Rs. 75000.

While there’s a lot National Award covers across a calendar year, there’s only so much we can do to educate you about it. Anyway, let’s look forward to the upcoming National Awards to be announced in some months.