The 10th edition of the illustrious Odisha Citizens Award (OCA) instituted by Odisha’s no-1 news channel OTV is back this year to honour personalities to recognise their contributions to society in their respective fields. The selection committee of OCA-2022 has short-listed four nominees each in nine different categories.
Instituted by OTV, Odisha Citizens Award is a pioneer recognition conferred on personalities in recognition of their contribution to the society in fields of Agriculture, Art and Culture, Industry, Education, Entertainment, Social Service, Sports to Health Services and Politics. You can participate in online voting.
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Here goes the list of nominees in the field of art and culture.
Subhashree Mukherjee
Subhashree Mukherjee took the onus of reviving an ancient martial dance form—Chhau—native to Mayurbhanj district of Odisha. She has the credit of introducing women to the traditionally male-dominated dance form. Subhashree resumed training workshops for artistes of Mayurbhanj Chhau Performing Unit. She launched a project called Chhauni in 2016. Through Project Chhauni, she has identified as many as 11,733 Chhau artistes.
Baladev Maharatha
Baladev Maharatha who is presently working as principal of BK College of Art and Crafts has also been nominated in art and culture category. He has carved a niche in the field of literature and dance. He is also known as an art educator, a painter, a poet and a visualiser.
Bijay Kumar Mohapatra
Bijay Kumar Mohapatra, who heads the carpenters’ team working on the Nandighosha Rath of Lord Jagannath, is another nominee for Odisha Citizens Awards in the category of art and culture. He has started making chariot with his father since 1972. Hailing from the Biswakarma Sebayata family, Mohapatra was trained in the nuances of chariot construction since he was a kid. Following his father’s death in 2012, he became the chief carpenter of Nandighosh. But, that is not all about Mohapatra. He is an ace singer, trained in Hindustani and Odissi genres and performs every evening at the temple, other than the period of chariot construction.
Satyanarayan Maharana
Satyanarayan Maharana, a sand artist of great repute, is another nominee in the art and culture category. His passion to create miniature chariots has brought laurels for him. He has previously held the title of Exclusive World Record by creating a chariot measuring 1mm, and another chariot that measured 1 cm was also recorded in the India Book of Records. He has multiple records for his original creations.