PRESS RELEASE: The American newsweekly Newsweek and the website The Daily Beast are offering a prize for the best commentary writing in South Asia in partnership with the Open Hands Initiative in order to celebrate and nurture outstanding talent and find fresh voices covering the region.
The aim of the prize is to promote and support the work of an individual who has contributed thoughtful, important, and engaging commentary on the great social, political, and cultural issues of their region.
The prize offers $25,000, a one-month residency at the Norman Mailer Center and Writers Colony in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and a biweekly column for a year on The Daily Beast. The winner will be honoured at a dinner at the Asia Society in New York City on June 20.
Any nominated columnist, journalist, or writer based in and writing about South Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh) is eligible for the prize. Only commentary written in the year prior to submission will be considered eligible for the prize.
Nominees must be available to travel to New York for the June 20 prize ceremony.
Editors, publishers, and writers across South Asia may nominate the best English-language columnists and journalists or apply by sending us three to five examples of their work and writing a brief letter explaining why that particular individual deserves this recognition.
A panel of prominent international journalists and media experts— including writer and historian William Dalrymple, Editor of Newsweek International Tunku Varadarajan, Newsweek & The Daily Beast books editor Lucas Wittmann, author and journalist Sir Harold Evans, and Madhulika Sikka, executive producer, NPR—will read the submissions to select one winner and two finalists.
To submit a nomination, email commentaryprize@newsweekdailybeast.com
