| SNo | Year | Name and Language |
|---|
| 1 | 1965 | Mahakavi Shankar Kurup (Odakkuzhal) |
| 2 | 1966 | Tara Shankar Bandopadyaya (Ganadevata) |
| 3 | 1967 | Uma Shankar Joshi & Dr.K.V.Puttappa (Nishith & Ramayana Darsanam) |
| 4 | 1968 | Sumithranandan Pant (Chidambara) |
| 5 | 1969 | Firaq Ghorakhpuri (Gul-e-Nagma) |
| 6 | 1970 | Dr.V.Satyanarayana (Ramayana Kalpavrikshamu) |
| 7 | 1971 | Bishnu Dey (Smithi Satha Bhavisyathi) |
| 8 | 1972 | Ramadhari Singh Dinakar (Urvasi) |
| 9 | 1973 | Gopinath Mohanty (Madi Matal) |
| 10 | 1974 | V.S.Khandekar (Yayathi) |
| 11 | 1975 | P.V.Akilandam (Chitrappavai) |
| 12 | 1976 | Ashapurna Devi (Prathama Pratti Shruti) |
| 13 | 1977 | Dr.K.Shivarama Karanth (Mukhajia Kanakasugala) |
| 14 | 1978 | S.H.Vatsyayan (Kitni Navon Men Kitni Bar) |
| 15 | 1979 | B.K.Bhattacharya (Mrityunjaya) |
| 16 | 1980 | S.K.Pottakkat (Oru Desattinte Katha) |
| 17 | 1981 | Amritan Pritam (Kagaz Te Kanwas) |
| 18 | 1982 | Mahadevi Verma (Yama) |
| 19 | 1983 | Dr.Masti Venkatesh Iyengar (Chikaveera Rajendra) |
| 20 | 1984 | Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai (Kayar) |
| 21 | 1985 | Pannalal Patel (Manvini Bhavai) |
| 22 | 1986 | Satchidanand Routray (Kavita) |
| 23 | 1987 | V.V.Shirwadkar (Marathi) |
| 24 | 1988 | C.Narayana Reddy (Telugu Poetry) |
| 25 | 1989 | M.S.Qurratul-ain-Haider (Aag Ki Daria) |
| 26 | 1990 | Prof.Vinayak Krishna Gokak (Kannada) |
| 27 | 1991 | Subash Mukhopadyay (Bengali) |
| 28 | 1992 | Naresh Mehta (Hindi) |
| 29 | 1993 | Dr.Sitakant Mohapatra (Oriya) |
| 30 | 1994 | Prof.U.R.Anantha Murthy (Kannada) |
| 31 | 1995 | Mr.M.T.Vasudevan Nair (Malayalam) |
| 32 | 1996 | Mrs.Mahasveta Devi (Bengali) |
| 33 | 1997 | Ali Sardar Zabri (Urdu) |
| 34 | 1998 | Girish Karnad (Kannada) |
| 35 | 1999 | Nirmal Varma (Hindi), Guru Dayal Singh (Punjabi) |
| 36 | 2000 | Dr.Indira Goswami (Assamese) |
| 37 | 2001 | Rajendra Keshavlal Shah (Gujarathi) |
| 38 | 2002 | Jayakanthan (Tamil) |