The Randhawa Festival will feature poetry sessions, art performances, film screenings and theatre productions.
Punjab Arts Council 2026 Awards: Punjab’s Brightest Creative Stars Revealed
On 6th January, 2026, the Punjab Arts Council announced the recipients of its annual awards to be presented on the occasion of the Mahinder Singh Randhawa Memorial Festival. The festival is scheduled from February 2 to 7, 2026, in Chandigarh.
The Punjab Arts Council is a key cultural organisation that promotes and preserves arts, literature and creative expression in the region, offering platforms that recognise outstanding contributions across creative disciplines.
The council finalised awardees across multiple categories during a meeting of the executive committee held at Kala Bhavan, Sector 16, under the chairmanship of Swaranjit Savi. Prof Karamjit Singh, Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, will be honoured with the Punjab Rattan Award for his distinguished contributions to education and cultural scholarship.
The Mother Tongue Award is set to be bestowed upon acclaimed short-story writer Bachint Kaur in recognition of her work promoting Punjabi language and literature.
Among other categories, the Punjab Gaurav Award for theatre will be given to Neena Tiwana, while Gurvinder Singh is selected for cinema, Devinder for art, and Gurbhajan Gill for literature.
The Randhawa Festival will feature poetry sessions, art performances, film screenings and theatre productions. One-day seminars focusing on each awardee’s life and work will also be organised.
The festival will commence on February 2 with an inaugural ceremony, followed by programmes from various academies through February 6, culminating in the awards presentation on February 7.
Chairman Swaranjit Savi and council members, including Amarjeet Grewal and Ashwani Chatley, encouraged art lovers to participate in the celebrations of Punjab’s cultural heritage, the article stated.
Source: The Tribune
