Souhardya De

Souhardya De (born 9 January 2004) is an Indian writer, columnist, and podcaster from Midnapore, West Bengal. He is a recipient of the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, a civilian award for Indian citizens under the age of 18, in 2021.

Personal life
De pursued high school studies at Vidyasagar Shishu Niketan in Midnapore, West Bengal, graduating in July, 2022. He did his UGCert in History from the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education with a bursary. Later, he was awarded a Think Big scholarship for his undergraduate education in History at the University of Bristol, where he also worked as a student fundraiser.

His father, Shakti Prasad De, is an assistant professor of History at Midnapore College and his mother, Jayati De, is a teacher at a government school in West Bengal.

Career
He was a columnist for the Sunday Guardian and a podcaster, hosting a show called Cosmographia: The Graeco Romans, the Egyptians and Us. In 2021, Souhardya was one of the recipients of the PM-YUVA Fellowship, a stipend for young authors writing about the Indian independence movement, announced by the Ministry of Education. His book 'Pratap Jung: The Ultimate Sacrifice' was published by the National Book Trust as part of the PM-YUVA series published in 2023.

Honours and awards

 * Inducted to the Science Olympiad Foundation Hall of Fame in 2019.
 * Nominated for the 2020 International Children's Peace Prize from the KidsRights Foundation in Amsterdam, for his educational philanthropy.
 * Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India in 2021.