The Wise Owl Literary Awards
Submissions Closed
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Announcement of Longlist of Awards: 1st January 2025
Announcement of Shortlist of Awards: 15th January 2025
Announcement of winners: 7th February 2025
The Wise Owl Literary Awards
The WiseOwl Publications was founded to inculcate love for literature and art among the general populace. In order to make that possible, various literary & creative activities were instituted such as publication of an international, monthly magazine, The Wise Owl, which offers a free platform for upcoming poets and writers. It also connected the upcoming poets and writers with renowned poets and writers who acted as creative mentors to the upcoming ilk. The Wise Owl also took upon itself the task of publishing anthologies of poetry and fiction and organising events such as poetry readings, literary soirees, workshops et al. In continuation of this lifelong enterprise to promote literature, The Wiseowl Publications have now instituted The Wise Owl Literary Awards.
The Founders
Dr Rachna Singh, Author, Principal Editor, The Wise Owl & former civil servant
Dr Harmeet Singh, Artist, Senior, Editor, The Wise Owl & former civil servant
The Wise Owl Literary Award Categories
Fiction: This category includes published novels, novellas & collection of short stories.
Poetry : This category includes published poetry collections (all genres) or a long poem.
Non-Fiction : This category includes published biography, autobiography, collection of
personal essays, creative articles, travelogues or musings (all genres other than
scholarly or academic writings)
The Wise Owl Literary Awards
One winner and two honourable mentions will be selected for each category. The winner shall be awarded a cash prize of Rs 25,000/- along with The Wise Owl Scroll. The Honourable mentions will be felicitated with The Wise Owl scroll. The names of the winners will be displayed on the permanent website and the social media platforms of The Wise Owl.
General Rules of Eligibility and Submission:
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Books published during the period 01.07.2023 to 30.06. 2024 in English language.
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Books have to be nominated and submitted by the publisher in the format available for submission online. The Wise Owl Award Submission Form
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There is no restriction on author nationality
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There is no restriction on number of entries by one publisher
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Only one submission per author in one category is allowed.
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Only physical copies of the books are acceptable. Strictly no submission of book in the form of PDF files. Three (3) physical copies of the book need to be sent to:
The Editor, The Wise Owl
#001, Aster C, Ambika Florence Park
New Chandigarh-140301
Contact No 9592004555 or 9592004666
OR
The Editor, The Wise Owl
# 468, Foothills, IAS-PCS Officers' Society
Sector 1, New Chandigarh (SAS Nagar)-140901
7. Incomplete submissions (without required particulars & physical copies of book) will not be considered and no further correspondence on the issue will be entertained.
8. The decision of Jury will be final and binding and not subject to any review or litigation.
9. The judges/Jury reserve the right not to give an award for reasons such as lack of submissions and/or quality of submissions.
10. For any correspondence about the Literary Awards, email editor@thewiseowl.art
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The Jury for The Wise Owl Literary Awards
Dr. Ivy Imogene Hansdak is an poet, scholar and translator employed as Associate Professor in the Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India. She did her M. Phil. on “The Tribal as the ‘Primitive’ Other in Indian Literature: A Study of Three Texts” from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and her PhD on “Conversion, Marginalization and Emancipation in Three Women’s Narratives”, also from JNU, New Delhi. She has authored two poetry collections titled The Golden Chord (Writers Workshop: 2010) and The Prism of Life (Writers Workshop: 2022), besides editing her father’s autobiographical narrative, A Doctor Among the Santals: The Autobiography of Dr. Stephen B. Hansdak (ISPCK: 2012). She has also published several research papers in edited volumes and scholarly journals. She is an upcoming translator of Santali fiction into English
Taseer Gujral is a poet, editor, columnist and a translator. She is an ACC scholar from ASRC, Hyderabad and has worked on the feminist poems of Adrienne Rich for her doctoral thesis. Her published works appear in Outlook, The Punch Magazine, The Sunflower Collective, Coldnoon Diaries, Muse India, Open Book review and several acclaimed poetry anthologies. She has translated seminal works like Fakir Mohan Senapati’s short story Rebati in Punjabi, and some of Sultan Bahu’s poetry in English. Her columns on Literature and Cinema have also appeared in DNA. Her interests range from Poetry, Translation, Cinema, Culture, Aesthetics and Music.
Renu Sinha is a journalist with nearly 30 years of experience. She earned her Master's in English Literature from Punjab University. She writes on a variety of subjects, including gender issues, art, literature, films and civil nd social issues. She loves reading books and also reviews books. She is also passionate about photography. A closet poet, her passion for writing poetry was rekindled nearly a decade ago. Since then, her poems have been published in prestigios international literary magazines. She writes in English, Hindi as well as Punjabi, A storyteller at heart, she wants to take her stories to celluloid now. She has done a short course on film-making from FTII and is honing her craft at Spiral Bound, a screenwriting platform by Boman Irani where he mentors eager writers. She lives in Chandigarh and loves its wide, green spaces.
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Vivek Atray, ex IAS, is a Motivational speaker, Author, Mentor, Advisor, columnist and Visiting Professor. He resigned from the Indian Administrative Service in 2017.
He has 8 TEDx Talks & 5 highly popular JOSH Talks which have been viewed by more than 6 million, especially his interview with Ranveer Ahlabadia aka Beer Biceps.
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He is the founder of SUVICHAR Think Tank, Visiting Professor and Chair of the Yogananda Centre for Theology at Shoolini University. He is also founder of the Vibrant Networking forum, Playwrite Foundation, Chandigarh literary Society and Co-convener of INTACH Chandigarh. he is also member of the Governor's Advisory Council of Chandigarh, UT.
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Vivek Atray is an acclaimed orator and has spoken in India and abroad at events of HORASIS, NASSCOM, CII, TIE, NCGG, LBSNAA, IIFT, ISB, Universities, Colleges and private companies.
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His novels are "Move on Bunny" & "Dubeyji Bounces Back". He writes a fortnightly column Random Forays for Hindustan Times. His new books are 'Its a Wonderful Life' and "Finding Success Within."
Pankaj Singh is the CEO of the hugely successful Bookstore in Chandigarh, aptly called Browser. He has now expanded his work and also happens to be the Mentor of Fauji Days, a Publishing house with a special focus on Military Literature.
Avinash Mohananey belongs to 1985 batch of Indian Police Service allotted to Sikkim cadre. He has worked in various capacities in Sikkim Police and on deputation to government of India in Intelligence Bureau. He was also on a diplomatic assignment with High Commission of India in Islamabad for close to four years. He has been awarded the Indian Police Medal for Meritorious service and Presidents Medal for Distinguished service.
After retirement as Director General of Police from Sikkim in 2017, Avinash took to writing about contemporary issues. He has written several articles on strategic, security, Pakistan developments, Kashmir, political issues, farmer issues and other issues faced by the country. The write ups have been published in prestigious dailies like Economic Times, Hindustan Times, The Print, The Citizen, DNA and on platforms like rediff.com.
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Santosh Bakaya is a Ph.D., a poet, essayist, novelist, biographer, Tedx speaker and has authored as many as twenty-eight books across different genres. She is the Winner of Reuel International Award for poetry [2014] and Setu Award for her stellar contribution to world literature [2018]. She has been acclaimed for her poetic biography of Mahatma Gandhi, Ballad of Bapu. Her biography on Martin Luther King Jr. Only in Darkness can you see the Stars has also been critically acclaimed. Her latest book is Runcible Spoons and Pea-green Boats. She pens a weekly column called Morning Meanderings in Learning and Creativity. Com.
Some of her latest books of poetry are What is the Meter of the Dictionary? [AuthorsPress, 2022], The Fog, A liquid Ditty Floats [AuthorsPress, 2023], Sunset in a Cup [ AuthorsPress, 2024]. Her E-books are Morning Meanderings [Blue Pencil, 2020] & Melange of Mavericks and Mutants [with Ramendra Kumar
Blue Pencil, 2022.], Vodka by the Volga [Blue Pencil, 2020] with Dr. Ampat Koshy, From Princep Ghat to Peer Panjal, [with Gopal Lahiri, Her TEDx Talk-The Myth of Writers' Block, is very popular in creative writing classes.
Her book of short stories with Avijit Sarkar, Bring out the Tall Tales, and her novella, A Skyful of Balloons, have been widely appreciated.
Dr Navjot Kaur, Principal, Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector-26, Chandigarh has to her credit an illustrious career spanning over three decades in the area of education. She is a distinguished academician and exemplary leader. Her dynamic leadership has propelled the College to new heights, and her unwavering commitment to the promotion of Environmental Sustainability and Preservation of Heritage and Culture has been lauded and commended by International and National bodies alike.
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She has been the recipient of several prestigious awards such as International Green University Award 2023 (Green Mentors, Powered by Law of Nature, Special Consultative Status with Economics and Social Council of United Nations), Rotary International Citation for Rotaract Club of SGGSC, District Environment Championship Award 2024-25 (National EduTrust of India), State Award for Single use Plastic and E-Waste Management (Department of Environment Chandigarh) among others.
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She has authored 4 books with international publishers and 19 papers in International and national journals of repute. She has presented 44 papers in international & national conferences.She has served as Member Board of Postgraduate Studies, PU Chd for three terms.
Ramendra Kumar is an award-winning writer, performance storyteller and inspirational speaker with 49 books under his belt. His books have been translated into 32 languages and inluded in several anthologies and textbooks in various countries. Ramen has written across genres and his work has been published by najor publishing house. His books brought out by National Book Trust (NBT), India have notched up sales of more than a million copies.
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Ramen has been invited to several international literary festivals as well as Indian marquee events like the Laipur Literarture Festival. Ramen was nominated as a jury member for the Times of India 'Women Auther Awards 2020 and also selected as a mentor for the Scholastic Writer's Academy.
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an engineer and an MBA, Ramendra was working as general Manager (Corporate communications) SAIL in Rourkela Steel Plant when he took voluntary retirement. he is now a cancer warrior and an inspiration to many.