Golden Lotus Awards or Swarna Kamal Awards, a part of National Film Awards, are given away each year by the Government of India. These awards are awarded for Best direction, Best Film, Best Childrens film and Best Popular film. The Golden Lotus Awards are awarded in the form of cash. The first Golden Lotus award was awarded in 1954 and the Best film to bag it was Shyamchi Ayi in Marathi. In contemporary India too the Golden Lotus Awards are considered quite prestigious.