Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize and TagorePrize for Social Achievement 2020 Announced
Raj Kamal Jha for his novel – The City and the Sea wins Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize
His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, the late Sultan of Oman and The People of Oman, and Sandip Soparrkar from India wins TagorePrize for Social Achievement
December 7th 2020, in Copenhagen, Denmark
Welcome to the third edition of Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize. Unfortunately, due to the covid-19 pandemic Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2020 award distribution ceremony and irreplaceable beauty and excitement of celebrating all of our nominees, peers and kindred spirits in person had to be canceled and substituted by announcing the winners through our social media platforms and press release.
Congratulating this year’s awardees, the chair of the Awarding Committee and Founder of Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize – Peter Bundalo full-heartedly conveyed’’ Many congratulations to this year’s winners and all shortlisted authors, this year has been challenging in many ways for the entire world. The spirit of humanity, compassion, empathy will lead us to a new year and hopefully, we shall all meet in New Delhi in-person for the next award ceremony, till then stay safe”.
As a honorable legacy to Rabindranath Tagore, we are awarding the finest in Indian literature with the Literary Prize, and recognizing the positive and lasting impact on society and its change with the Social Achievement Prize.
This year winner of Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2020 is The City and the Sea, a literary fiction by Raj Kamal Jha.
Members of the jury and Literary Director of Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize Maja Markunovic remark:
A woman finds herself in a hotel next to the sea and far away from home. It is a place she had long dreamed of visiting, yet, overwhelmed by amnesiac confusion, she senses something is terribly amiss. On the other side of the world, in a city where the home is, a child sets out on a surreal journey in an attempt to retrace the steps of his missing mother and find her. Along the way appears December, a youth who seems to know where to go and who, despite himself, uncovers the devastating truth and his burden of guilt.
The winner of Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2020 is The City and the Sea by Raj Kamal Jha, a novel based on the atrocious (Nirbhaya) case of sexual assault and murder, that brought India together in a moral frenzy. From this starting point of factual framework, Raj Kamal Jha takes a leap of imagination and twines a story of love and loss around the bond between a mother and a child that breaks away into realms of phantasmagoria and supernatural where suffering becomes multidimensional, and allusions that mirror our underlying woes strike eerily home.
The City and the Sea is not about crude moralizing and in many ways defies preconceptions of how such an encumbered topic should be tackled. The core is about the aftermath of the most brutal gender based violence, yet the word rape is strategically absent from the entire body of text, as if it would fail to convey the substance of the experience. Instead, the abominable unsaid was brought to the fore via lyrical, allusive and disorienting narration that magically falls together to render it somehow more sincere and complex.
The same powerful delicacy is used to broach the difficult bigotry of how we perceive each other with prismatic approach to its repercussions, which makes the reading experience uniquely empathetic and eye opening.
When mother and what we come to know as her never to be born child reunite in the climactic scene that draws heavily on the allusion to the refugees floating on the open sea, these souls are revealed as exiles from their own bodies, holding onto each other as though that bond is what keeps them from cancelling each other’s existences, struggling to make sense of death, that final displacement and everything unresolved, unredeemed and makeshift that trails behind.
In this brilliant work of fiction Raj Kamal Jha succeeds in making us witnesses to the vastness of existences, possibilities, hopes and dreams annulled by an act of horrific violence rooted in inveterate biases in how malignant to each other we believe we have a right to be. Genuinely concerned with present day afflictions, this novel is a lament of the flawed society, evocation to all who perished in violation of their fundamental rights, but also a ray of hope for a different humankind, awake to our intrinsic unity, even in sorrow.
The first prize in the amount of USD $5 000 (unfortunately, due to the covid-19 global economic crisis, the prize money has been temporarily decreased from USD 10,000 and will be delivered in USD $1000 monthly installments) and a Rabindranath Tagore statuette will be awarded to the winner.
Raj Kamal Jha, the Chief Editor of The Indian Express on receiving the news on winning the Prize for his fifth novel: “Introducing Tagore’s Gitanjali, WB Yeats talked about how the poet’s work took the “immeasurably strange,” and moved us, not because of its strangeness but because we met in it our own image, heard in it our own voice. There couldn’t be a more powerful imperative of storytelling today than this humanism – this is what the Tagore Prize celebrates and it’s a privilege to be in the company of its extraordinary finalists.
He further added “My deepest thanks to the judges and organizers of the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2020. The honour isn’t exactly mine, it belongs to the broken children, women and men in The City and the Sea. Who fall apart, pick up their pieces, and, in doing so, help us become whole again.”
TagorePrize 2020 for Social Achievement was conferred to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, the late Sultan of Oman and The People of Oman and from India Sandip Soparrkar a renowned dancer choreographer.
By posthumously rewarding His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said for his astounding lifelong efforts and legacy as a peacemaker, His Majesty’s velvety diplomatic mediation of complex domestic and world affairs resulting in successful peaceful resolutions, TagorePrize would like to emphasize – A Peacemaker never dies; living forever in our hearts and illuminating paths in all of us. Rabindranath Tagore statuette will be awarded to his successor His Majesty Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, Sultan of Oman.
From India, Sandip Soparrkar, a renowned dancer choreographer, was chosen for the Social Achievement Prize for his contribution to the betterment of society through his initiative “Dance for a Cause”. Commended for creatively using dance as a medium to bring awareness on the values of the society, consequently serving humanity by alleviating global problems such as domestic violence, acid attacks, drug abuse, AIDS, cancer care, care for seniors, adoptions, and animal protection, etc. Rabindranath Tagore statuette will be presented to Sandip Soparrkar.
On hearing the announcement he expressed “I am overwhelmed to receive Rabindranath Tagore Social Achievement Award 2020 for my worldwide initiative Dance for a Cause, I am humbled that this honor for the very first time is given to a dancer-choreographer. I feel privileged, excited, and thankful as I know prestigious award brings with it lots of responsibility and duties and today I promise that I will do my best to keep the prestige of this honor alive.”
In conclusion, Sandra de Castro Buffington, TagorePrize Advisory Board and Hollywood story whisperer from the USA sends a special message saying “It is an honor to join Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize team in recognizing humanity’s highest values depicted in literature, art, and world leadership. These forms of wisdom, truth, and beauty have the power to awaken us to a higher image of human potential and to make every life count. We celebrate the Prize winners in creating a more peaceful, enlightened, and just world.”
Once again, congratulations!
TagorePrize had been founded and launched with a strong vision to be a platform and a vehicle for improving and inspiring World Peace, Literature, Art and Education. We are promoting the culture and beauty of literature just as Rabindranath Tagore had taught us to, but also, the culture and society of tolerance, harmony and non – discrimination.
Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2021 is now open for submissions. The deadline is June 1st, 2021.
- For Awarding Criteria and Rules for Submission click here.
- Submit your entries by clicking here.
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Ling
❤️️
I am a published poet with 4 collections to my credit. I would like to enter for the next Rabindranath Tagore prize. How do I do this ?
Please read more on how to participate by clicking Award Criteria and Rules for Submission.
Thank you.
Golden man of India
❤️️
Dear sir I want to submit my work . Please help me regarding how to submit my works to participate in this award Kindly do the needfull sir .
Thank you sir .
Regards Lakshmikanth bm
The Hans Christian Andersen Award is sometimes referred to as “the Little Nobel.” The award has earned this appellation since, in a similar manner to the Nobel Prize in Literature, it recognizes the lifetime achievement of writers, though the Andersen Award focuses on a single category of literary works ( children’s literature ).
FRAGRANCE FLOWS
I am Thou fragrance , O! Lord
Preserve me for a precious cause
Pluck the roots with wholeness
To sprinkle the showers of fragrant hopes
Lest the time is over,grasp and grab my lot
I am that island of cores with Thy treasures
Thy immortal flames groom inside my oasis
Lift this fragrance to wreathe a necklace
That shall flow in human _ river with grace
No more awaiting now ,O!Lord
Lift me with Thy hand and let the garden bloom.
@
Neelam Malik
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Great initiative , we all support and appreciate it
Thank you for your kind comment. You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook page @tagoreprize
As a novice poet and writer , i am unfamiliar with this foundation. It prickles my interest to the extent that I would like to know more on how to contribute and be a part of it .
Please read more on how to participate by clicking Award Criteria and Rules for Submission.
Thank you.
Great initiative, would love to be part of the group always, keep me posted about the events.
Thank you for your kind comment. You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook page @tagoreprize
I am excited to know the facts of Tagore prize as initiated by the authorities concerned.
Thank you.
Wishing for peace in the world, let your voice go to the holy place!
Thank you for your kind comment.
Good effort. Welcome your work for the enrichment of the literature. Best.
Thank you for your kind comment.
Kindly, let me know the rules, procedure, year wise eligibility criteria and roughly last dates of submissions of applications for the Award competition.
Please read more on how to participate by clicking Award Criteria and Rules for Submission.
Thank you.
Im very pleased you are doing this. Too many good contemporary poets have gone unsung unsold into the great void. Edification of poets and the promotion of poetry in the common community is essential for our survival as a gentler, kinder species on earth. This effort needs to be supportedin every way posdible. I am delighted that your first tecepient is my good friend Vinita Agrawal. Good wishes.
ADB
Thank you for your kind comment
I want to submit my poems here.
Please read more on how to participate by clicking Award Criteria and Rules for Submission.
Thank you.
Please read more on how to participate by clicking Award Criteria and Rules for Submission
His work is outstanding..Will like to see more..
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Sir.
This is your laudable and most welcome effort to promote and popularise Indian Literature in English in the context of emerging concept of Global literature. Thank you Sir for this invaluable work.
I do not have your snail mail address. Is it possible for me to get your postal address, so that I can send you my book on Tagore , entitled ” Some Problems of Translation: A Study of Tagore’ s Red oleander” and my book of Poems, “The Confession of An Indian Opium Eater: A collection of Indian Poems in English”. References to National and International citations of both these two books are found in Google Portals . I will be happy to send these two books for your library.
With best regards.
Sincerely yours,
Basudeb Chakraborti
Professor of English(retd.), University of Kalyani and Sikkim Central University , Former World Humanist Scholar and Teaching Fellow, University of Central Arkansas, U.S.A.
Thank you for your kind comment. You can contact us at info@tagoreprize.com and also follow us on Instagram and Facebook page @tagoreprize
Congratulations for such a laudable effort.
Thank you!
Hello sir
My 9 year old son Rajat Bansal has written a book of English short stories,The Happy Tree.
He is in 5th standard now in Cambridge school noida.
The book is available in amazon.in and is doing well amongst all children.
Kindly reply if you find he is worth for this award.
Please read more on how to participate by clicking Award Criteria and Rules for Submission.
Thank you.
Very good and very good job
Thank you!
How does one participate in the next competition?
Please read more on how to participate by clicking Award Criteria and Rules for Submission.
Thank you.
Thank you for supporting poets and writers!
Thank you for your kind comment.
Shri Rabindran ath Tagore (7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) also known by the sobriquet Gurudev,was a Bengali poet, Brahmo Samaj philosopher, visual artist, playwright, novelist, and composer whose works reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Very good I am in interstate in this Award
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Informative article, just what I was looking for.
That is a great tip especially to those new to the blogosphere.
Brief but very precise information… Many thanks for sharing this
one. A must read post!
Hi, I’m an author and a poet. Looking forward to contribute more in the literary field. Please let me know if I can showcase my writings on this platform.
Please read more on how to participate by clicking Award Criteria and Rules for Submission.
Thank you
Please read more on how to participate by clicking Award Criteria and Rules for Submission.
Thank you.
Nice initiative
Thank you
Thank you for your comment. You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook page @tagoreprize
Thank you!
I haven’t read these books yet but will surely do so ..
My whole perspective of life has already started to change on reading just a gist of what is to come when I buy and read these books ..
Salute all the winners and off course the organisers of such a noble award ..
Thank you for your kind comment.
Can i be a winner of this award? Would love the appreciation. It will be an honour for Ϻε .
Please read more on how to participate by clicking Award Criteria and Rules for Submission
How can I participate and what are the limitations for it? Can a script writer of Radio station be eligible for this ? Of course I belong to Odisha.I an an Odia writer.Sometmes I would like to write also in English . Would you like to clarify me?