The Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship is an honour presented by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, an autonomous organisation for the encouragement, preservation, and documentation of the performing arts of Kerala, set up by the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Government of Kerala. Instituted in 1972, the fellowships are given to outstanding artistes who have contributed to the performing arts in the state. The awardees are decided after a general body meeting conducted by the Akademi panel members and are presented by the Governor of Kerala.^[1]

From 2012, the fellows are known by the title "Kalarathna", which is also applied to the previous winners. The recipients will receive a statuette, a citation, and cash prize. The reward comprised ₹15,000 until 2012, it was raised to ₹25,000 from the next year onward.^[2]

List of Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellows, showing the year, and field(s)^[3][4]

Year	Image	Recipient	Field(s)	Ref.
1972	–	Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar	Classical Music	[5]
	–	Manku Thampuran	Classical Music	[5]
	–	Guru Gopinath	Dance	[6]
1975		Mani Madhava Chakyar	Koothu–Koodiyattam	[7]
	–	Kainikkara Kumara Pillai	Drama	[8]
		Chenganoor Raman Pillai	Kathakali	[9]
1977	–	Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair	Kathakali	[9]
	–	Premji	Drama	[8]
1979		K. J. Yesudas	Classical Music	[5]
	–	M. R. Sivaraman Nair	Classical Music	[5]
	–	Palghat R. Raghu	Classical Music	[5]
1980		G. Devarajan	Classical Music	[5]
	–	Mavelikara Krishnankutty Nair	Classical Music	[5]
	–	Swamimalai K. Rajarathnam Pillai	Dance	[6]
		V. Sambasivan	Kathaprasangam	[10]
1981	–	Thoppil Bhasi	Drama	[8]
	–	Pallassana Padmanabhan Marar	Keraleeya Vadyangal	[11]
	–	Kedamangalam Sadanandan	Kathaprasangam	[10]
		K. Raghavan	Light Music	[12]
1982		V. Dakshinamoorthy	Classical Music	[5]
	–	K. T. Muhammed	Drama	[8]
	–	Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair	Drama	[8]
	–	T. N. Gopinathan Nair	Drama	[8]
	–	Champakulam Pachu Pillai	Kathakali	[9]
1983	–	Poomully Raman Namboothiripad	Classical Music	[5]
	–	Thikkodiyan	Drama	[8]
	–	Kalamandalam Madhavan	Dance	[6]
	–	Kottakkal Kuttan Marar	Kathakali	[9]
	–	M. P. Manmadhan	Kathaprasangam	[10]
1985	–	Ananda Shivaram	Dance	[6]
	–	Joseph Kaimaparamban	Kathaprasangam	[10]
1986	–	Kalamandalam Krishnankutty Poduval	Kathakali	[9]
		G. Sankara Pillai	Drama	[8]
1987	–	Chalakudy N. S. Narayanaswamy	Classical Music	[5]
		Kalaikkal Kumaran	Drama	[8]
1988		Mrinalini Sarabhai	Dance	[6]
	–	Eddy Master	Drama	[8]
1989	–	T. K. Murthy	Classical Music	[5]
	–	Neyyattinkara Vasudevan	Classical Music	[5]
1990		Leela Omchery	Classical Music	[5]
		Ammannur Madhava Chakyar	Koothu–Koodiyattam	[7]
1991	–	K. S. Narayanaswamy	Classical Music	[5]
	–	Jagathy N. K. Achary	Drama	[8]
1992	–	Kalamandalam Kalyanikutty Amma	Dance	[6]
		N. N. Pillai	Drama	[8]
1993	–	V. T. Aravindaksha Menon	Drama	[8]
	–	Mavelikkara Ponnamma	Drama	[8]
	–	N. Krishnamoorthi	Drama	[8]
1994	–	C. S. Krishna Iyer	Classical Music	[5]
	–	V. P. Dhananjayan	Dance	[6]
	–	Bharat Gopy	Drama	[8]
1995	–	S. L. Puram Sadanandan	Drama	[8]
1996		O. Madhavan	Drama	[8]
	–	Keezhpadam Kumaran Nair	Kathakali	[9]
1997	–	Guruvayur S. Srikrishnan	Classical Music	[5]
	–	K. P. A. C. Sulochana	Drama	[8]
1998		Mavelikkara Velukkutty Nair	Classical Music	[5]
	–	P. K. Venukuttan Nair	Drama	[8]
1999	–	Mavelikkara S. R. Raju	Classical Music	[5]
	–	Kunjandi	Drama	[8]
		Chemancheri Kunhiraman Nair	Kathakali	[9]
2000		Thiruvizha Jayashankar	Classical Music	[5]
		Kavalam Narayana Panicker	Drama	[8]
	–	Thevarthottam Sukumaran	Kathaprasangam	[10]
2001		B. Sasikumar	Classical Music	[5]
	–	Nellai Krishnamurthy	Classical Music	[5]
	–	Mavelikkara Sankarankutty Nair	Classical Music	[5]
2002		Parassala B. Ponnammal	Classical Music	[5]
	–	S. Ramanujam	Drama	[8]
	–	Kalamandalam Sankaran Embranthiri	Kathakali	[9]
2003	–	K. P. Udayabhanu	Classical Music	[5]
	–	Santha Devi	Drama	[8]
	–	Kavungal Chathunni Panicker	Kathakali	[9]
2004	–	M. G. Radhakrishnan	Classical Music	[5]
	–	Kalamandalam Sumathi	Dance	[6]
	–	Pappukutty Bhagavathar	Drama	[8]
2005	–	Santha P. Nair	Classical Music	[5]
	–	Ennakkad Narayanankutty	Dance	[6]
		Vijayakumari	Drama	[8]
2006		T. V. Gopalakrishnan	Classical Music	[5]
	–	K. P. A. C. Khan	Drama	[8]
		Kalamandalam Gopi	Kathakali	[9]
2007	–	M. S. Gopalakrishnan	Classical Music	[5]
	–	Kalamandalam Satyabhama	Dance	[6]
		Thilakan	Drama	[8]
2008		M. K. Arjunan	Classical Music	[5]
	–	Kottakkal Sivaraman	Kathakali	[9]
	–	Kadaikodu Viswambharan	Kathaprasangam	[10]
2009	–	Pala C. K. Ramachandran	Classical Music	[5]
	–	T. K. John	Drama	[8]
		Peruvanam Kuttan Marar	Keraleeya Vadyangal	[11]
2010	–	Palkulangara Ambika Devi	Classical Music	[5]
	–	Vayala Vasudevan Pillai	Drama	[8]
	–	Annamanada Parameswara Marar	Keraleeya Vadyangal	[11]
2011	–	Ananthalakshmi Venkitaraman	Classical Music	[13]
	–	Kalamandalam Sugandhi	Dance
	–	Artist Sujathan	Drama
2012	–	K. Omanakutty	Classical Music	[5]
	–	N. V. Krishnan Payyannur	Dance	[6]
	–	C. L. Jose	Drama	[8]
2013	–	Mangad K. Natesan	Classical Music	[5]
	–	Shobana	Dance	[6]
	–	Nelson Fernandez	Drama	[8]
2014	–	M. Subramania Sharma	Classical Music	[14]
	–	Kalamandalam Vimala Menon	Dance
		K. P. A. C. Lalitha	Drama
2015	–	Rugmini Gopalakrishnan	Classical Music
		Kalamandalam Kshemavathy	Dance
	–	K. M. Dharman	Drama
2016	–	P. R. Kumara Keralavarma	Classical Music	[15]
	–	Nirmala Panicker	Dance
	–	G. Kumara Varma	Drama
2017		Perumbavoor G. Raveendranath	Classical Music	[16]
	–	K. M. Raghavan Nambiar	Drama
		Gopinath Muthukad	Magic
2018	–	Maradu Joseph	Drama	[17]
		Nelliyode Vasudevan Namboodiri	Kathakali
		C. S. Radhadevi	Prakshepana Kala
2019	–	Trivandrum V. Surendran	Classical Music	[18]
	–	K. P. A. C. Beatrice	Drama
	–	Sadanam Vasudevan	Keraleeya Vadyangal
2020	–	Tripunithura N. Radhakrishnan	Classical Music	[19]
		Pirappancode Murali	Drama
		Kalamandalam Vasu Pisharody	Kathakali
2021	–	Mavelikkara P. Subramaniam	Classical Music	[20]
		Karivellur Murali	Drama
	–	V. Harshakumar	Kathaprasangam
2022	–	Gopinath Kozhikode	Drama	[21]
	–	Vidyadharan	Music
	–	Kalamandalam Unnikrishnan	Keraleeya Vadyangal

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