Come November and December, the Delhi-based Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC) will hold two short story competitions in Hindi and English. While the non-profit corps has started the Hindi story contest from this year, the English short story competition is in its second year. Last year’s winners of the first and second prizes were from Chennai and Agra.
The last date of entry for the Hindi Short Story contest on the topic Samkaleen Sambandhon Mein Samaj Ki Badalti Paribhasha is November 15, while for English short story contest with the topic “Crossroads”, it is December 15.
The all-India competition is meant for women writers and journalists with no age bar. But as a representative from IWPC put it, “The stories must have gravity of matter as this podium is not for juvenile writing.” The first three best stories in English will carry a cash award of Rs. 25,000, Rs. 15,000 and Rs. 10,000.
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The cash reward for the best Hindi story is Rs. 11,000. Though the second and third best stories will carry the same prize money of Rs. 7,000, classification of their rank will be done on the basis of the quality of the story.
An independent jury of known names in the domain of literature will be invited and executive members of IWPC will not be allowed to participate to make the judgment fair.
Asked for the reason behind the tight deadline for the Hindi short story contest, the IWPC representative said: “We have tied up with Vani Prakashan which intends to coincide it with the World Book Fair to be held in February next year. Vani will publish the stories in the form of a book and offer it during the fair.”
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Through both the topics the intention is to discover newer writings that explore complexities of relationships at various stages in contemporary India.