M. Krishnan Memorial Award For Nature Writing 2021, organised by Madras Naturalists’ Society (MNS), invites participants to write on the theme “The Summer of 2020”. The last date for submission of articles is November 30. By way of illustration, MNS has in its communication suggested a few topics that fit in with this theme. The list of suggestions reads: “A portrait of a particular species in its habitat, focusing on its natural history. Two, an account of an entire habitat, such as a deciduous forest or a protected campus in a city, describing its fauna and flora. Three, an anecdotal narration about a wild creature that is grounded in what is known about it scientifically. Four, an essay on the threats faced by a habitat or ecosystem.”
The communication further notes that “participants are expected to draw on their personal experiences, to hold the interest of the reader and to share knowledge”. The rules of the contest are: “Participants are required to submit original works on the given theme that have not been published or presented elsewhere. All work must be submitted by individuals (collaboration is not allowed); each participant may submit only one work; the competition is open to Indian citizens aged between 18 and 30 years as on 30 November 2020; submissions must be made together with the official entry form available online; submissions must be in English. The communication further points out that “the work must be submitted in the .doc format (Open Office and MS Word compatible) or portable document format (PDF). Entries should be in 10 point Times New Roman, 1.5 line space. There should be no text boxes, figures or tables in the document. The word count of the work should be 2700 - 3000 words. Submissions must be sent via email as attachments to madrasnaturalistssociety@gmail.com along with the official entry form.”
The first prize carries a cash award of Rs.10,000, a citation and a certificate. And two commendable entries will have a honourable mention and a certificate.
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For further details, go to www.blackbuck.org.in. MNS can be reached at 98400 90875 or madrasnaturalistssociety@gmail.com.