To celebrate his Jnanpith Award, famous poet G. Sankara Kurup established an award in 1969. The award is granted to Malayalam literary works, and the prize money is Rs. 10,000. It is administered by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi. Kurup was selected for the honor by a panel of experts from different fields of knowledge. He was praised for his contribution to Malayalam literature, especially poetry. Kurup died in 1974 at the young age of 42. Since then, no one has been given this award. There will be a ceremony to present the Jnanpith Award 2019 on April 23, 2019. The chief guest at the event will be Kannada writer Sujatha Rangarajan. Other guests include writers M. T. Vasudevan Nair, Shobhaa De, Ramachandra Guha, and Amrita Sher-Gil. In addition to the cash prize, the winner gets a gold medal and a certificate. The award was created to encourage new authors and to recognize their work. It is India's highest literary award in Malayalam language.