Bengaluru: Prakash Rao Payyar, president of Dhwani Prathishthaana was honoured with the International Aryabhata award 2014 for his contribution to Kannada language and culture at an award ceremony held at Ravindra Kala Kshetra on August 9.
He was awarded along with 56 other recipients from various fields.

Justice Dr. Rama Jois (Former Governor of Bihar and Jharkhand State and Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court), Nodaja Mahesh Joshi (Additional Director General Doordarshan, Delhi), Shri B.G. Jyothi Prakash Mirji (I.P.S., Former Commissioner of Police Bangalore City) along with Dr. H.L.N.Rao (Founder President of Aryabhata Cultural Foundation) were the esteemed guests who presented the award.

Prakash Rao Payyar a poet, dramatist, stage director and social activist has published and penned nine books. His collection of poems ‘Uretta Kannuda Siri’, was released couple of months back. He has directed more than thirty plays of noted Kannada playwrights.

He established Dhwani Pratishthaana in the year 1985 at Mumbai and through ‘Dhwani’, he has organized hundreds of literary and cultural activities in last 30 years.

He has been honored with the Karnataka State Nataka Academy Award (2010), Akhila Bharatha Kannada Sahitya Sammelana Honor (2015), Karnataka Sangha Abudhabi’s Dr. Da Ra Bendre Award (2014), Karnataka Sangha, Sharjhas Mayyura Award (2010) and he has also received fifteen other honors and awards from various associations in India and abroad.