Jaipur | Jaipur District Collector Jitendra Kumar Soni's short story collection, Bharkhama, will receive the Sahitya Akademi Award in the Rajasthani language category.

Awards for outstanding works in 24 recognised languages were announced on Monday by the Sahitya Akademi, an autonomous organisation under the Union Ministry of Culture.

The prestigious literary award carries a citation and a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh.

Soni is currently serving as the DM of Jaipur. Besides writing short stories, he has also authored poetry and personal diaries in Rajasthani and Hindi, and has been involved in translations and editing. He has published around 15 books.

He is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar for his Rajasthani poetry collection Rankhar.

Soni has also been honoured with the Sudhindra Award by the Rajasthan Sahitya Akademi for his Hindi poetry collection Regmal, and the Murli Dhar Vyas 'Rajasthani' Katha Sahitya Award by the Rajasthani Bhasha Sahitya Evam Sanskriti Akademi for Bharkhama.

A story from his short story collection, Bharkhama, has also been adapted into a Rajasthani film with the same name.

The National Academy of Letters on Monday announced the names of 24 authors who will receive the Sahitya Akademi Award for 2025.

The announcement has come months after the academy cancelled a scheduled press conference in December 2025 to declare the awards.