Kala Ratna 2017 (Hamsa Award -- Andhra Pradesh Civilian Award)

Kala Ratna (Hamsa Award) Received by Professor Ramalinga Sastry

Kala Ratna, earlier known as Hamsa Award, is a civilian award conferred by the state government of Andhra Pradesh. It is given on the day of Telugu New Year, Ugadi. The awards are given to the people who have achieved the remarkable feat in the field of literature, music, dance, painting, sculpture, folk and tribal arts. The awards are presented by the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Each award carries an amount of Rs. 50,000, a shawl, a gold plated Hamsa (Swan) memento. These awards are first given in the year 1999, and last presented in the year 2017.

2017 Kala Ratna Award Winners are
1. Uma Chowdary (Harikatha)
2. Mahankali Surya Narayana Sastry (Kuchipudi)
3. Potluri Venkateswara Rao (Journalism)
4. Maremani Srinivasa Rao (Painting)
5. Akkam Sriram (Sculpture)
6. Neti Parameswara Sarma (Theatre)
7. Tummapudi Koteswara Rao (Literature)
8. Kondapolu Basava Punnaiah (Social Service)
9. Mannem Venkat Rayudu (Social Service)
10. Naidu Gopi (Theatre)
11. D Uma Maheswari (Harikatha)
12. Gangadhara Sastry (Music)
13. Sarada Ramakrishna (Andhra Natyam)
14. Vemuri Venkata Viswanath (Music)
15. Cherukuri Veeraiah (Engineering)
16. Ballem Rosaiah (Engineering)
17. Manepalli Rushi Kesava Rao alias Nagnamuni (Literature)
18. P Satyavathi (Literature)
19. TS Rao (Social Service)
20. Gollapudi Maruthi Rao (Actor and Writer)
21. Vangapandu Prasad (Folk)
22. Garikapati Narasimha Rao (Avadhanam)
23. Ch Anant Sriram (Lyricist – Yuva Pratibha)
24. Kadali Suresh (Drama)
25. Satish Reddy (Science)
26. Sai Krishna Yachandra
27. Kalisha and Subhani (Nadaswaram)
28. SM Peeran (Sculpture)
29. A Murali Krishna (TV anchor)
30. Singamaneni Narayana (Literature)
31. Potluri Harikrishna (promotion of Telugu language)
32. K Sanjeeva Rao alias Sikhamani (Poetry)
33. Palleti Laxmi Kula Sekhar (Theatre)
34. Jayanna (Painting)
35. K Siva Prasada Reddy (Handicrafts) from Kurnool
36. Meegada Ramalinga Swamy (Theatre)
37. Chittor Revathi Ratnaswamy (Vocal)
38. Radha Krishna Raju (Social Service)

Along with Kala Ratna, the state government of Andhra Pradesh also confer Ugadi Puruskarams on the same stage.