The Kalidas Samman (Hindi: कालिदास सम्मान) is a prestigious arts award presented annually by the government of Madhya Pradesh in India. The award is named after Kālidāsa, a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer of ancient India, wid The Kalidas Samman was first awarded in 1980. It was initially conferred in alternate years in the fields of Classical Music, Classical Dance, Theatre and Plastic Arts. From 1986-87 onwards, the awards were presented in all four fields every year. The award is presented for outstanding achievement in one of the four categories.

At present, the award carries a cash prize of 2 lakh (200,000) rupees. The winners are selected by a five member committee appointed by the Government of Madhya Pradesh, which consists of eminent artists, art critics and officials from the Sangeet Natak Akademi (India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama).

The recipients of the Kalidas Samman include:

Award 2008-09: National Kalidas award (plastic arts)- Jairma Patel National Kalidas award (classical dance)-Kalamandlam Gopi National Kalidas award(classical music)- Chhanulal Mishra

Pandit Puttaraj Gawai (Kannada: ಪುಟ್ಟರಾಜ ಗವಾಯಿ) (3 March 1914 – 17 September 2010) was an Indian musician in the Hindustani classical tradition, a scholar who authored more than 80 books in Kannada, Sanskrit and Hindi, a music teacher and a social servant. A member of the Gwalior Gharana (school), he is renowned for his ability to play many instruments such as the veena, the tabla, mridangam, violin etc., as well as for his popular renditions of devotional music (bhajans) vachanas.A famous vocalist both in Hindustani and Karnataka Music. He is the recipient of the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour, awarded in 2008.

He was born into a poor Kannada Lingayat family in Devara Hospete in Hangal taluk of Haveri district of Karnataka. His parents were Revaiah Venkatapurmath and Siddamma. He lost his eyesight at a very early age. He lost his father when he was 10 months old. His maternal uncle Chandrashekharaiah took him under his wings and raised him.

Seeing Gawai's interest in music, his uncle took him to Veereshwara Punyashrama, run by Ganayogi Panchakshara Gawai. Under the guidance of Panchakshara Gawai, he mastered Hindustani and Carnatic music. He also mastered harmonium, tabla, violin and 10 other music instruments.

Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer (Tamil: செம்மங்குடி ஸ்ரீனிவாச ஐயர்) (July 25, 1908 - October 31, 2003) is considered to be one of the greatest Carnatic vocalists of the twentieth century. He was the youngest recipient of the Sangeetha Kalanidhi awarded by the Music Academy in 1947 and has received many awards including Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan from the Government of India, Sangeet Natak Academy award (1953), Isai Perarignar from Government of Tamil Nadu and Kalidas Samman from Government of Madhya Pradesh. He was affectionately addressed as "Semmangudi Maama" (Semmangudi Uncle) by his disciples. He was also considered the "Pitamaha" or the grand sire of modern Carnatic Music. He was conferred with an honorary doctorate by University of Kerala in 1979.

He was born in Tirukkodikaval, Thanjavur District as the third son of Radhakrishna Iyer and Dharmasamvardhini Ammal. He lived with his maternal uncle Tirukkodikaval Krishna Iyer, a violin maestro, until the age of four and after his death, moved to his parents' home in Semmangudi, Tiruvarur District. At the age of eight he started learning music from his cousin Semmangudi Narayanaswamy Iyer. This was followed by some rigorous training under Thiruvadaimaruthur Sakharama Rao, a famous Gottuvadhyam exponent, an event considered by Semmangudi as a turning point in his life. This was followed by another training stint with Narayanaswamy Iyer, during which time he learnt a lot of varnams and keerthanams. Then he had a musical apprenticeship with Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer. In 1926, he performed his first music recital at Kumbakonam. In 1927 gave a concert in the Madras session of Indian National Congress, another event considered by Semmangudy as a turning point in his life, as it catapulted him into the big league of vidwans at that time. He was known for producing soulful music, highly creative and yet very orthodox, despite a recalcitrant voice.

Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra (Oriya: ଗୁରୁ କେଳୁଚରଣ ମହାପାତ୍ର) (January 8, 1926 - April 7, 2004) was an Indian classical dancer, guru and proponent of Odissi dance, who is credited for the revival of the classical dance form in the 20th century. A Noted Sanskrit poet of India writes on this Guru 'that Saango-paanga-subhangi-laasa-madhuram samteerna-nrutyaarnavam' which means - Each fraction of his dancing body leads to paramount sweetness through the miraculous pose and postures. In fact, Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra crossed the ocean of styles.

Akbar Padamsee (born April 12, 1928, ) is a contemporary Indian artist and painter, considered one of the pioneer in Modern Indian painting along with Raza, Souza and M.F. Hussain. Over the years he has also worked with various mediums from oil painting, plastic emulsion, water colour, sculpture, printmaking, to computer graphics, and photography, as worked a film maker, sculptor, photographer, engraver, and lithographer. Today his paintings are amongst most valued amongst modern Indian artist, his painting Reclining Nude was sold for USD 1,426,500 at Sotheby’s in New York on March 25, 2011.

He was awarded the Lalit Kala Akademi Fellowship (Lalit Kala Ratna) by the Lalit Kala Akademi,India's National Academy of Arts, in 1962, the Kalidas Samman from the Madhya Pradesh Government in 1997 for Plastic Arts and the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour in 2010.

Padamsee was born in Mumbai to a Muslim family with ancestry from Gujarat and brought in Mumbai, India. His grandfather was the sarpanch of a Vāghnagar, a village in the Bhavnagar district of the Kathiawar, now part of Gujarat state. He earned the title “Padmashree” or “Padamsee” after he distributed his entire granary to the village during a famine. His original family name was “Charanyas”, as their ancestors being court poets. Early on in his life he started copying images from The Illustrated Weekly of India magazine in his father’s accounts books at their store on Chakla Street, in South Mumbai.