If you have always thought of yourself as a PB Shelley-in-the-making or are just a poet who wants their work to reach a multitude of people, then you should submit your work (which also includes multiple submissions) to the 3rd edition of the Wingword Poetry Prize, a national-level competition for a chance to win cash prizes amounting to Rs 5 lakh. A total of 200 entries will be chosen and the top entries will also be published in a best-selling book on poetry.
‘To encourage budding poets from the length and breadth of the country’
“We instituted the awards in 2017 as a way to encourage budding poets who are beginners in their craft after realising that for most competitions in India, a poet or writer cannot nominate themselves; either a respectable publisher or somebody else has to nominate them. It takes years for writers or poets to reach that level, and have their books published and be recognised for their work in the writing community. So we wanted to give beginners an early break,” says Saumya Choudhury, Founder, Wingword Poetry Prize, who is also the founder of Delhi Poetry Slam, one of the largest online communities for poets in India founded in 2013.
A Political Science graduate with a flair for writing, Saumya says that Wingword also gives a chance for poets belonging to varied backgrounds and culture to display their work on a national platform. “For example, when audiences will get to see works by a writer/poet from a small village in Manipur to poems by a person who has grown up in a metropolitan city, they will be exposed to different perspectives and points of view. The cultural variety will be an interesting factor to explore, she explains adding that the panel of judges will all be established writers and editors in English and other regional languages.
Last date to enter is January 15, 2020
