At the 59th National Film Awards, who was declared the best actress?

The National Film Awards are India's official annual awards for cinema, instituted by the Government of India in 1954 and organized today by the Directorate of Film Festivals under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. In most editions the jury names one Best Actor and one Best Actress for a specific film from that year's eligible releases — occasionally shared — but the winner is a matter of public government record, not opinion.

The 59th National Film Awards, covering films released in 2011 (results announced in 2012), named Vidya Balan Best Actress for her performance in The Dirty Picture. This is confirmed by the official Press Information Bureau announcement of the jury's results.

• Kareena Kapoor Khan has not won the National Film Award for Best Actress for any film from this period.

• Priyanka Chopra's National Film Award for Best Actress came earlier — for Fashion at the 56th National Film Awards — not for this 59th edition.

• Rani Mukerji was not the jury's Best Actress pick for a 2011 release either.

So the officially declared Best Actress at the 59th National Film Awards was Vidya Balan.