Muse India announces National Literary Awards

To recognize and reward excellence in Indian literature, Muse India is happy to announce institution of two National Awards to be given annually, during Hyderabad Literary Festival. These are -

1.) Muse India Young Writer Award to be given to an outstanding original work in English or in English translation from an Indian language. Each year the award will be for a particular literary genre (poetry, short fiction, play, novel etc.). For the 2011 award, the genre will be poetry.

2.) Muse India Translator Award to be given to a significant work of translation into English from any of the Indian languages. Translation should be of a classic or any other important literary work, preferably not translated earlier, and seen as an important contribution to Indian Literature.


The Reward** - Each of the Awards will have a citation and a cash prize. The amount will be Rs.20,000 for the Young Writer Award and Rs.30,000 for the Translator Award. Of these amounts, Rs 5000 will be given to the translator, in the case of Young Writer Award being given for a translated work, and to the original author, if living, in the case of Translator Award.


The 2011 awards will be given during Hyderabad Literary Festival 2012, tentatively scheduled to be held on Jan 16-18, 2012 in Hyderabad.

Jury – a distinguished panel of judges comprising authors, scholars and critics will assess the entries and select the award winners.


Eligibility Criteria –


#The author must be an Indian citizen or an NRI.

#Works published in English and in English translation only are eligible, not those in Indian languages.

#Self published books or electronic publications like eBooks, Chapbooks etc are not eligible.

#For the Young Writer Award the author should be 35 years or younger at the time of publication of the work.

#Books of poetry published between Jan 2009 and end-May 2011 will be eligible for entry.

For the Translator Award there will be no age bar for the translator. Books published between Jan 2007 and end May 2011 will be eligible for entry.

Submissions –

#All entries must reach Muse India on or before July 31, 2011, superinscribed ‘Entry for Muse India National Award’ and enclosing complete details as sought.

#Please send a communication through email on dispatch of the material.

#Authors or Publishers can send the entries.

A set of 3 copies of the book has to be submitted initially. If short-listed for final stage of consideration, more copies may be requested, if required.

For further details contact –

Mr GSP Rao

Managing Editor, Muse India

38, Malani Enclave, Trimulgherry

Secunderabad 500015, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Mobile phone 91 98483 45490

Email- chiefeditor@museindia.com and gsprao2003@gmail.com



**Each of the Awards will have a citation and a cash prize. The amount will be Rs.20,000 for the Young Writer Award and Rs.30,000 for the Translator Award.

Of the amount of Rs 20,000 for Young Writer Award, Rs 5000 will be given to the translator, in case the award goes to a translated work. Otherwise the entire amount goes to the author. The focus here will be to recognize originality and merit in a young writer’s work.

Of the amount of Rs 30,000 for the Translator Award, Rs 5000 will be given to the original author, if alive. This award will recognize not only the merit of translation but also the effort involved in bringing to a wider audience, a classic or an outstanding work of a regional language, which otherwise would remain largely unknown.