In honour of the Nightingale of India and with a view to recognise and felicitate practitioners of Fine Arts who take to teaching moving away from the lucrative performing arts, the Sabha set up, during the Golden Jubilee year in 2002, this award. Possibly, this is the only award for which consent was given by the late Dr. M. S. Subbulakshmi to be named after her. The award carries a citation, a cash prize of Rs. 1,00,000/-, a big lamp and a shawl. The award is given on the date of birth of Smt. Subbulakshmi viz 16th September or closer thereto.

This year the award was conferred on Prof. (Dr.) Saraswati Vidyardhi from Vizag. Her music is full of Bhava and is marked by excellent flow of Manodharma. She has been guiding many research scholars like Malladi Brothers, playback singer Dhanunjay and Komanduri Venkatakrishna. A M.A. (Music), Ph.D (Music), she had her initial training from her father Kulapathi Shri. IVL Sastri, later with Shri. I. Vijayeswara Rao and advanced training from Dr. Nedunuri Krishnamurthy. She is currently the Chairman of Faculty of Fine Arts, Andhra University.