Vyarawalla, hailing from Vadodara, is known for her artistic work in the pre and post partition period. She started her career as a freelancer with the Illustrated Weekly of India.

Besides Vyarawalla, the award will also be conferred upon 79-year-old S Paul, an eminent photojournalist who was the Chief Photographer of the Indian Express from 1962 to 1988.
In the pictorialists category, the Life Time Achievement Award shall be conferred upon Benu Sen (79) of Kolkata, a living legend in pictorial photography.

The second recipient in this category is K G Maheshwari (88) from Mumbai. The awards which have been instituted to commemorate the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Photo Division shall be conferred upon by Vice President M Hamid Ansari on August 19.
The awards include a cash prize of Rs 1.50 lakh, a shawl, a memento and a citation.