National Film Award – Special Jury Award (non-feature film)

For Special Mention for non-feature films, see National Film Award – Special Mention (Non-Feature Film).

The National Film Award – Special Jury Award (Non-Feature Film) is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India.

It is one of several awards presented for non-feature films. The recipients of Special Jury Award are awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus), cash prize of ₹100,000 (US$1,400) and certificate of merit.

The award was instituted in 1978, at 26th National Film Awards and awarded annually for the short films produced in the year across the country, in all Indian languages.

Winners

Award includes 'Rajat Kamal' (Silver Lotus), cash prize of ₹200,000 (US$2,800) and certificate of merit for the recipients of Special Jury Award. This award considers all the aspects of film making than individual area. Following are the award winners over the years:

List of award recipients, showing the year (award ceremony), awarded as, film(s), language(s) and citation
Year	Recipient(s)	Awarded as	Film(s)	Language(s)	Citation	Refs.
1978 (26th)	No Award
1979 (27th)	No Award
1980 (28th)	No Award
1981 (29th)	No Award
1982 (30th)	No Award
1983 (31st)	No Award
1984 (32nd)	–	–	Shri Hemkunt Saahib	–	–
1985 (33rd)	Rajan Khosa	Director	Bodhvriksha	Hindi	For his sensitive exploration of the anguish of a woman nursing her aged, paralysed grandmother. The film is characterised by economy and control and innovative cinematic form.
1986 (34th)	Yash Chaudhary	Director	Equal Partners	English	For the deft handling of a complex subject designed to promote better understanding between nations.
1987 (35th)	Rajiv Mehrotra	• Producer  • Director  • Cameraman	Barren Harvest	English	For his creative and sensitive handling of the serious iodine deficiency in flood prone areas of Eastern UP.
1988 (36th)	Mani Kaul	Director	Before My Eyes	–	For capturing the texture of Kashmir's landscape with a rare control over cinematic form that combines visual poetry with an effective use of sound on a track that uses no commentary.
1989 (37th)	K. R. Mohanan	Director	Kalamandalam Krishnankutty Poduval	Malayalam	For excellence in the use of cinema in projecting the intricate relationship between the drummer and the dancer in Kathakali.
1990 (38th)	Gulzar	Director	Ustad Amjad Ali Khan	Hindi	For bringing out the essence of a man and his music, emphasising the qualities of an artiste being distinct, but not distant from the people, as part of an unbroken tradition.
1991 (39th)	Aribam Syam Sharma	Director	Meitei Pung	English	For sensitively depicting the role that Pung, the traditional drum, plays in the Sankirtana and social life of Manipur.
1991 (39th)	B. Narsing Rao	Director	Akruti	–	For experimentation with forms of boulders of various shapes and textures, brilliantly visualised by Apurba Kishore Bir with the evocative music of Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia.
1992 (40th)	Salam Karassery	Producer	Noottantinte Sakshi	Malayalam	For a moving narrative about the courageous Maulvi patriot and centenarian Moidu Maulvi of Calicut, Kerala.
	Sasibhushan	Director
1993 (41st)	Murali Nair	Director	Tragedy of an Indian Farmer	English	For transcreating a well-known and touching Malayalam poem into a celluloid poem, with great sensitivity and economy.
	Mahesh Thottathil	Director	Death of a Prodigal Son	• Hindi  • English	For an interesting exploration of the stream-of-consciousness of a dying man in a restrained and stylised student film.
1994 (42nd)	Soumitra Sarkar	• Producer  • Director  • Screenwriter	Games We Played in My Youth	• English  • Bengali	For a refreshingly whimsical poem, which delights in the surprise of shifts and displacement.
1995 (43rd)	Sehjo Singh	Producer	Sona Maati	Marwari	For presenting an excellent, inspiring portrait of a woman peasant who is leading the struggle of women against land grabbing.
1996 (44th)	Nilotpal Majumdar	• Producer  • Director  • Cinematographer	Dhatu Jhar '96	Bengali	For his bold and experimental exploration of the dilemma between discovery and destruction.
1997 (45th)	No Award
1998 (46th)	Pavan Malhotra	Actor	Faqir	Hindi	For superb restraint in portraying of Innocence, in Gautom Ghose's film Faqir.
1999 (47th)	Deep Prakash	Director	Of Confucius, S-Spots and Toyguns	• English  • Hindi  • Marathi  • Tamil	For its stylised, graphic and playful narrative on modern life, violence and the contemporary media.
2000 (48th)	Roabin Mazumdar	Producer	A Memory of the Sea	English	For her skillful narration of the various cultures and religions from across the sea, that have historically influenced the coastal life of Malabar.
	Lygia Mathews	Director
2001 (49th)	Kireet Khurana	Producer	Orchestra	Hindi	For effectively conveying the message of national integration through synchronous use of sound and animated images of musical instruments.
	Bhimsain	Director
2002 (50th)	Wrik Basu and team	Director	00:00	English	For its intelligent and engaging use of cinematic form and structure as it weaves itself in and out of hotel rooms and peoples lives on New Years Eve at a sea-side hotel.
2003 (51st)	Kadhambari Chintamani	Producer	The Lijjat Sisterhood	English	For documenting the inspiring story of hundreds of women workers in the Lijjat papad making, selling and exporting. Through the first person interviews ranging from the oldest to the youngest, it is a vibrant narration of a unique experiment turned famously successful.
	Ajit Oommen	Director
2003 (51st)	Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti	Director	Ek Aakash	–	For starting off as a simple rivalry of two kids from different backgrounds; in kite flying, becomes a battle of one-upmanship. Both are led by their ego and aggressive instincts, but eventually reach a point when they need others help.
2004 (52nd)	Amit Dutta	Director	Kshy Tra Ghya	Hindi	For evolving an experimental form of narration within a story form, with excellent special visual effects in an innovative style.
2005 (53rd)	Rakesh Sharma	Director	Final Solution	• Hindi  • Gujarati  • English	For its powerful, hard-hitting documentation with a brutally honest approach lending incisive insights into the Godhra incident, its aftermath and the abetment of large-scale violence.
2006 (54th)	Anuradha Mookerjee	Producer	Lama Dances of Sikkim	English	For presenting the ritualistic significance and the colourful nature of the Lama mask dances in cinematic language.
	Manash Bhowmick	Director
2007 (55th)	Amalan Datta	Producer	Bhultir Khero	Bengali	For its brilliant evocation of Kolkata. The film brings out sights and sounds, smells and stories, myths and memories in a manner that is realistic and yet magical.
	Anirban Datta	Director
	Public Service Broadcasting Trust	Producer	Poomaram	Malayalam	For its creative use of visual craft to reflect on the relationship between menstrual rituals, the colour red and nature of human existence. The film engages the audience very deeply in its experimental exploration of the inner life of young women protagonists and their unique relationship with blood.
	Vipin Vijay	Director
2008 (56th)	Rajesh S. Jala	Director	Children of the Pyre	Hindi	Constrained by the stifling and searing world of children working in cremation grounds, the film helps them to recreate a world of their own. The director captures rare reflexive moments of the children and makes the viewers live their pain, joys and dreams.
2009 (57th)	Aasna Aslam	Child actor	Kelkkunnundo	Malayalam	For her natural, sensitive and touching performance.
2010 (58th)	No Award
2011 (59th)	Anand Patwardhan	Director	Jai Bhim Comrade	Marathi	For his uncompromising and passionate style of documentary filmmaking, which relentlessly brings into sharp focus the socio political issues of national importance.
2012 (60th)	Shumona Goel	Director	I Am Micro	English	For a journey in black and white against the backdrop of an abandoned factory, overlaid with the reflections of a filmmaker. A powerful experimental essay which leaves one with lots of questions.
	Shai Heredia
	Vasudha Joshi	Director	Cancer Katha	English	For a very personal rendition of a filmmaker's tryst with cancer – dealing with the harsh reality of the disease and unfolding the relationship of life, death, and film-making.
2013 (61st)	Girish Kasaravalli	Director	Ananthamurthy – Not A Biography...But A Hypothesis	English	For the clarity and the insight with which it looks at the work of Ananthamurthy, one of the finest Indian writers, whose work carries exceptional social significance.
	Satyanshu Singh	Director	Tamaash	English	For presenting a heartwarming story of friendship in a lucid and engaging style and for using elements of the magical and the macabre to create a modern day fable of Kashmir.
	Devanshu Singh
2014 (62nd)	Films Division	Producer	A Poet, A City & A Footballer	English	For demonstrating the power of cinema in weaving together life, poetry and reflections of its protagonist in the face of impending death.
	Joshy Joseph	Director
2015 (63rd)	No Award
2016 (64th)	Shirley Abraham	Producer and director	The Cinema Travellers	• Hindi  • Marathi	A sensitive and lyrical ode to the magic of celluloid and a poetic tribute to the last of India's travelling cinemas.
2017 (65th)	Films Division of India	Producer	A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings		A deeply reflective film on a former Mr. Universe, who is silently battling with old age.
	Prateek Vats	Director
	FTII	Producer	Monday		A simple and surreal representation of the mechanical and mundane.
	Arun K.	Director
2018 (66th)	Harish Shah	Director	Why Me ?		For the tenor of the director’s indomitable spirit, even as throat cancer claims his voice.
	Neeraj Singh	Art Director	Ekaant		For its surrealistic design and imagery of a bleak, impending catastrophe.
2019 (67th)	Vipin Vijay	Director	Small Scale Societies	English

External links

• Official Page for Directorate of Film Festivals, India
• National Film Awards Archives