Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Saturday presented the Kalaimamani awards to 128 artistes for 2019 and 2020 and the special Kalaimamani award, instituted in memory of late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, to six others.

The award includes a five sovereign gold medal and a citation.

At a function held at the Secretariat, Mr. Palaniswami also presented all India awards named after Bharathi, M.S. Subbulakshmi and T. Balasaraswathi to six artistes. The awards include ₹1 lakh in cash and a citation each. Moreover, nine artistes who had already received the Kalaimamani awards were given ₹50,000. Shields were presented to two organisations and a rolling shield to a theatre group.

Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, Tamil Development and Official Language Minister K. Pandiarajan, Information Minister Kadambur Raju and Chief Secretary Rajiv Ranjan were among those who were present.