The Sahitya Akademi Award was first awarded to _____ for his collection of poems in Bengali.
- Rabindranath Tagore
- Jibanananda Das
- Bishnu Dey
- None - first winner was in Hindi
Answer: None - first winner was in Hindi
The first Sahitya Akademi Award in 1955 was awarded to G. Sankara Kurup for his Malayalam poetry collection 'Odakkuzhal', not to a Hindi or Bengali writer. The award recognizes excellence across all 24 recognized languages.