The J. C. Daniel Award is the highest award in Malayalam cinema, established by the Government of Kerala, India. It is presented annually by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, a non-profit institution operating under the Department of Cultural Affairs, Kerala. Instituted in 1992, the award recognizes individuals for their "outstanding contributions to Malayalam cinema".^[1][2] Recipients are selected by a jury appointed by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy and the Department of Cultural Affairs.^[1][3] As of 2021^[update], the honourees receive a statuette, a citation, and a cash prize of ₹500,000 (US$6,300). They are honoured at the Kerala State Film Awards ceremony.^[4]

The Government of Kerala created the award to commemorate the contribution of Indian filmmaker J. C. Daniel, who is often regarded as the "father of Malayalam cinema".^[5] The J. C. Daniel Award was managed by the Department of Cultural Affairs until 1997. In 1998, the Government of Kerala constituted the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, and since that year, the Academy has hosted the award.^[1][6] A cash prize of ₹50,000 (US$630) was granted with the award until 2002.^[7] In 2003, the prize money was doubled and, as part of a technical correction to update it, no award was presented that year. Actor Madhu was the first recipient of the award with the increased monetary prize of ₹100,000 (US$1,300) in 2004.^[8][9] Since 2016, the cash prize is ₹500,000 (US$6,300).^[10]

Since its inception, the J. C. Daniel Award has been bestowed on 30 individuals. The award was first presented to film distributor and producer T. E. Vasudevan in 1992. Actress Aranmula Ponnamma was the first woman to receive the honour, in 2005. The 2011 recipient, actor Jose Prakash, died before the award ceremony. His son accepted the award on his behalf. The most recent winner is filmmaker T. V. Chandran.

Recipients

List of award recipients

Year	Image	Recipient	Field of work	Ref.
1992	–	T. E. Vasudevan	Distributor, producer	[11]
1993	–	Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair	Actor, director, screenwriter, lyricist	[12]
1994	–	P. Bhaskaran	Lyricist, director	[13]
1995	–	Abhayadev	Lyricist	[14]
1996	–	A. Vincent	Cinematographer, director	[15]
1997		K. Raghavan	Composer	[16]
1998		V. Dakshinamoorthy	Composer	[17]
1999		G. Devarajan	Composer	[12]
2000	–	M. Krishnan Nair	Director	[18]
2001	–	P. N. Menon	Director, art director	[7]
2002		K. J. Yesudas	Playback singer	[9]
2003	No award			[19]
2004		Madhu	Actor, director, producer	[8]
2005	–	Aranmula Ponnamma	Actress	[20]
2006	–	Mankada Ravi Varma	Cinematographer, director	[21]
2007	–	P. Ramdas	Director	[22]
2008		K. Ravindran Nair	Producer	[23]
2009	–	K. S. Sethumadhavan	Director, screenwriter	[24]
2010	–	Navodaya Appachan	Producer, director	[25]
2011	–	Jose Prakash[a]	Actor, singer	[28]
2012	–	J. Sasikumar	Director	[29]
2013		M. T. Vasudevan Nair	Screenwriter, director	[30]
2014		I. V. Sasi	Director, screenwriter	[31]
2015		K. G. George	Screenwriter, director	[32]
2016		Adoor Gopalakrishnan	Director, screenwriter	[10]
2017		Sreekumaran Thampi	Lyricist, director, screenwriter, producer	[33]
2018		Sheela	Actress, director, screenwriter	[34]
2019		Hariharan	Director	[35]
2020		P. Jayachandran	Singer	[36]
2021	–	K. P. Kumaran	Director	[37]
2022		T. V. Chandran	Director	[38]