Sahitya Akademi today announced its annual sahitya academi awards for 2016 in 24 languages and noted English novelist Jerry Pinto has got the award for his novel Em and the Big Hoom and Hindi author Nasira Sharma has been named for the award for her novel Paarijat.<br/><br/>Eight books of poetry, seven books of short stories, five books of novels, two books of criticism, one book of essay and one book of play have won the awards.Other awarded novelist are Boluwaru Mohammad Kunhi for Swatantryada Ota in Kannada, Edwin JFD Souza for Kale Bhangar in Konkani and Gita Upadhyay for Janmabhumi Mero Swadesh in Nepali. <br/><br/>Eight awarded poets are Jnan Pujari for his work Meghmalar Bhraman in Assamese, Anju for Ang Maboroi Dong Dasong in Bodo, Kamal Vora for Anekek in Gujarati, Prabha Varma for Shyamamadhavam in Malayalam, Sitanath Acharya for Kavyanirjhari in Sanskrit), Gobinda Chandra Majhi for Nalha in Santhali, Nand Javeri for Akhar Katha in Sindhi and Papineni Sivasankar for his work Rajanigandha in Telugu. <br/><br/>Seven writers were cited for short stories. They are Chahatrapal for his work Cheta in Dogri, Shyan Darihare for Barki Kaki at Hotmail Dot Com in Maithili, Moirangthem Rajen for Cheptharaba Eshingpun in Manipuri, Asaram Lomate for Aalok in Marathi, Paramita Satpathy for Prapti in Odia, Bulaki Sharma for Murdjat Ar Dujee Kahaniyan in Rajasthani and Vannadhasan Oru Siru Isai in Tamil. Aziz Hajini for his work Aane Khane in Kashmiri and Nizam Siddiqui for his Mabad-e-Jadidiat Se Naye Ahed Ki Takhliqiyat Tak in Urdu were awarded for their books on criticism. <br/><br/>Nrisinghaprasad Bhaduri has been honoured for his essay Mahabharater Astadashi in Bengali and Swarajbir for his play Masia Di Raat in Punjabi.The awards comprising a casket containing an engraved copper plaque, as well as a shawl and a cheque of 1 lakh rupees will be presented to the authors in New Delhi on 22nd February 2017.