Bhadrak,
December 29, 2025:
Young Odia writer Sangram Keshari Senapati has been conferred the Timepass
Prathama Award for his novel manuscript Cigarette. The award was
presented at a literary programme organised by Timepass Publication on
Sunday at the auditorium of the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Research
Centre, Bhubaneswar.
A
native of Nilok village under Bant block in Bhadrak district, Sangram is the
son of Abhimanyu Senapati and Srimati Dei. The award was presented by renowned
poet and fiction writer Dr. Hiranmayee Mishra. Informing about the
awards, Timepass director Saroj Bal said that while 12 writers received the
Prathama Award in different categories this year, Sangram was the sole
recipient in the novel category.
It
may be noted that Sangram had earlier received the Udayaraga Samman in
2023 from Timepass in the short story category. He began writing fiction in
2015, and his stories have been published in several well-known newspapers and
magazines. Since 2018, he has been regularly publishing the Odia e-magazine Shubhapallaba
as its editor.
Sangram
has also been an active contributor to Odia Wikipedia since 2014. He has
written more than 3,000 Odia articles and has participated in various national
and international Wikipedia-related programmes.
Sharing
his thoughts on the award and his writing journey, Sangram said that his love
for stories began in childhood and that he started writing stories on his
personal blog in 2015. Some of his early works were published in his college
magazine, where he later served as editor in his final year. “Cigarette
is also a story from my college days. Some scattered memories from a college
diary first took the shape of a short story and later evolved into a novel,
which is now ready to reach readers,” he said. He expressed gratitude to Saroj
Bal and the jury members for recognising his work, and to his wife, Chirashree
Chinmayee, for helping him correct errors before submission.
According to Saroj Bal, the novel Cigarette will be published in April during the Bahi Barsha programme organised by Timepass Publication and will be available both online and at various outlets.
