Established with a vision to celebrate and empower female voices in literature, The Zeenat Haroon Rashid Writing Prize for Women invites submissions for its 2024 edition.

The competition serves as a beacon of encouragement for Pakistani women writers both at home and in the diaspora. The Prize’s commitment to amplifying their voices has seen the publication in 2024 of its first anthology, Mightier, a selection of work drawn from the first five years of the Prize 2019-2023.

The Prize carries a cash award of Rs100,000 and in 2024 the call for submissions is for Non-Fiction. Writers are invited to submit narrative or polemical essays, memoirs, or travel writing on any subject or theme that uses Pakistan as a canvas or location and focuses on the country’s culture and society.

Entries open on April 1 and close on June 30. The competition is open to all women of Pakistani nationality or Pakistani heritage over the age of 18 and, as always, the judges look for writing with a distinct voice.

This year’s panel features guest judges prominent in the worlds of journalism, academia and non-fiction writing. It comprises historian and international affairs commentator Victoria Schofield, novelist and academic Sabyn Javeri, British Council Pakistan’s Deputy Director Maarya Rehman, journalist and filmmaker Hasan Zaidi, and freelance editor and permanent coordinating judge Shan Vahidy.

Full details on how to enter and comprehensive competition rules can be found on the website www.zhrwritingprize.com.

For media enquiries please write to info@zhrwritingprize.com.

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, March 31st, 2024