Renowned vainika Jayanthi Kumaresh was conferred the Sangeet Shikar Samman by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, New Delhi in recognition of her distinguished services to Indian classical music, especially the Saraswati Veena. Chief guest, Vice Chairman of NITI Ayog,Rajiv Kumar presented the award to Jayanthi Kumaresh. The award instituted in 2010 has been bestowed on eminent artists in the last nine years. The award includes a purse of rupees one lakh, a citation and a shawl. Some of the earlier awardees are Hariprasad Chaurasia, Girija Devi, M. Balamuralikrishna, Yamini Krishnamurti, T.N.Krishnan, and Jasraj to name a few. Jayanthi is the youngest recipient of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Annual Award.

As a torchbearer for the ‘national instrument’ of India, Jayanthi Kumaresh is an articulate musician who is unafraid of breaking new ground with her music. Not confining the subtle veena to the Carnatic music stage, she has taken it to new and diverse audiences through cross-genre collaborations.