| Year | Winner | Birth-Death | Works | Language |
| 1965 | G Sankara Kurup | 1901–1978 | Odakkuzhal (Flute) | Malayalam |
| 1966 | Tarashankar Bandopadhyaya | 1998–1971 | Ganadevta | Bengali |
| 1967 | Kuppali Venkatappagowda Puttappa (Kuvempu) | 1904–1994 | Sri Ramayana Darshanam | Kannada |
| 1967 | Umashankar Joshi | 1911–1988 | Nishitha | Gujarati |
| 1968 | Sumitranandan Pant | 1900–1977 | Chidambara | Hindi |
| 1969 | Firaq Gorakhpuri | 1896–1982 | Gul-e-Naghma | Urdu |
| 1970 | Viswanatha Satyanarayana | 1895–1976 | Ramayana Kalpavrikshamu (A resourceful tree:Ramayana) | Telugu |
| 1971 | Bishnu Dey | 1909–1982 | Smriti Satta Bhavishyat | Bengali |
| 1972 | Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' | 1908–1974 | Urvashi | Hindi |
| 1973 | Gopinath Mohanty | 1914–1991 | Paraja | Oriya |
| 1973 | Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre | 1896–1981 | Nakutanti (Naku Thanthi) (Four Strings) | Kannada |
| 1974 | Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar | 1898–1976 | Yayati | Marathi |
| 1975 | P.V.Akilan | 1922–1988 | Chitttrappavai | Tamil |
| 1976 | Asha Purna Devi | 1909–1995 | Pratham Pratisruti | Bengali |
| 1977 | K.Shivaram Karanth | 1902–1997 | Mookajjiya Kanasugalu (Mookajjis dreams) | Kannada |
| 1978 | Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan 'Ajneya' | 1911–1987 | Kitni Navon Men Kitni Bar (How many times in many boats?) | Hindi |
| 1979 | Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya | 1924–1997 | Mrityunjay (Immortal) | Assamese |
| 1980 | S. K. Pottekkatt | 1913–1982 | Oru Desattinte Katha (Story of a land) | Malayalam |
| 1981 | Amrita Pritam | 1919–2005 | Kagaj te Canvas | Punjabi |
| 1982 | Mahadevi Varma | 1907–1987 | Yama | Hindi |
| 1983 | Maasti Venkatesh Ayengar | 1891–1986 | Chikkaveera Rajendra (Life and struggle of Kodava King Chikkaveera Rajendra) | Kannada |
| 1984 | Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai | 1912–1999 | | Malayalam |
| 1985 | Pannalal Patel | 1912–1989 | Maanavi Ni Bhavaai | Gujarati |
| 1986 | Sachidananda Rout Roy | 1916–2004 | | Oriya |
| 1987 | Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar (Kusumagraj) | 1912–1999 | Natsamrat | Marathi |
| 1988 | Dr.C. Narayana Reddy | 1971– | Vishwambhara | Telugu |
| 1989 | Qurratulain Hyder | 1926–2007 | Akhire Shab Ke Humsafar | Urdu |
| 1990 | V. K. Gokak (Vinayaka Krishna Gokak) | 1909–1992 | Bharatha Sindhu Rashmi | Kannada |
| 1991 | Subhas Mukhopadhyay | 1919–2003 | | Bengali |
| 1992 | Naresh Mehta | | | Hindi |
| 1993 | Sitakant Mahapatra | 1937– | | Oriya |
| 1994 | U.R. Ananthamurthy | 1932– | | Kannada |
| 1995 | M. T. Vasudevan Nair | 1933– | | Malayalam |
| 1996 | Mahasweta Devi | 1926– | | Bengali |
| 1997 | Ali Sardar Jafri | 1913–2000 | | Urdu |
| 1998 | Girish Karnad | 1938– | For his contributions to modern Indian drama | Kannada |
| 1999 | Nirmal Verma | 1929–2005 | | Hindi |
| 1999 | Gurdial Singh | | | Punjabi |
| 2000 | Indira Goswami | 1942– | | Assamese |
| 2001 | Rajendra Keshavlal Shah | 1913– | | Gujarati |
| 2002 | D. Jayakanthan | 1934– | | Tamil |
| 2003 | Vinda Karandikar | 1918– | | Marathi |
| 2004 | Rahman Rahi | 1925– | Subhuk Soda, Kalami Rahi and Siyah Rode Jaren Manz | Kashmiri |
| 2005 | Kunwar Narayan | 1927– | | Hindi |
| 2006 | Satya Vrat Shastri | 1930– | | Sanskrit |
| 2006 | Ravindra Kelekar | | | Konkani |