Authors Ruskin Bond, Nandhika Nambi, Sudha Murthy and Durjoy Dutta were among the winners at this year’s Crossword Book Awards, announced at the Royal Opera House in Mumbai on Thursday.

Currently in its 16th edition, the Crossword Book Awards were founded in 1998 as an Indian counterpart to international literary wards, such as the Man Booker Prize and Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. They come with a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh for winners in the jury award category and Rs 1 lakh for winners in the popular choice category.

Among the jury awards, Snigdha Poonam’s Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing The World won the honour in the non-fiction category, while Prayaag Akbar’s Leila won the award in the fiction category. Benyamin’s Jasmine Days, translated from Malayalam by Shahnaz Habib, won the jury award in the translation category.

While Dutta won the popular choice in the fiction category for his book The Boy Who Loved, Murthy’s Three Thousand Stitches won the popular choice award in the non-fiction category. Ruskin Bond won the award for popular choice in children’s writing category for his book Looking For The Rainbow.

Actor Soha Ali Khan’s memoir titled The Perils of Being Moderately Famous won the popular choice in the biography category. For popular choice award in business and management category, the honour went to Venkatesan for his book Catalyst.

The Lifetime Achievement Award for this year went to writer and politician Shashi Tharoor.

Here is the complete list of winners:

Popular Choice Awards

  • Fiction: The Boy Who Loved, Durjoy Dutta (Penguin Random House India)
  • Non-fiction: Three Thousand Stitches, Sudha Murthy (Penguin Random House India)
  • Business and Management: Catalyst, Chandramouli Venkatesan (Penguin Random House India)
  • Children’s Writing: Looking For The Rainbow, Ruskin Bond (Puffin India)
  • Biography: The Perils of Being Moderately Famous, Soha Ali Khan (Penguin Random House India)
  • Health and Fitness: You’ve Lost Weight : The Easy Guide To Receiving This Compliment Every Day, Sanjeev Kapoor, Dr Sarita Daware (Popular Prakashan)

Jury Awards

  • Fiction: Leila, Prayaag Akbar (Simon & Schuster)
  • Non-fiction: Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing The World, Snigdha Poonam (Viking Books)
  • Children’s Book: Unbroken, Nandhika Nambi (Duckbill Books)
  • Translation: Jasmine Days by Benyamin, translated from Malayalam by Shahnaz Habib (Juggernaut Books)