Fourteen persons were given Bharatendu Harish Chandra Awards for 2009 and 2010. The awards were given in the categories of Journalism and Mass Communication, Women's Issues, Children's literature and National Integration. The Award was one of the key initiatives of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to promote original writing of books and manuscripts in Hindi language.

The Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Mr. S. Jagathrakshakan was addressing after presenting Bhartendu Harish Chandra Award for 2009 and 2010 in New Delhi on Wednesday evening. Recalling the creativity of the literary master, the Minister said within a short span, Bharatendu Harish Chandra left a deep imprint on the development of Hindi language. He urged the winners to motivate people in developing a taste for reading rich literary books thereby motivating them to be a part of long standing social change.

Mr. Jagathrakshakan said the award money is very less and first prize should be raised to one lakh rupees from present 75,000 rupees.

For 2009 the first prize in the Journalism and Mass Communication category was awarded to Mr. Dilip Chandra Mandal for his manuscript Corporate, Loktantra aur Paid News. No one was awarded first prize for 2010 in this category.