The Zeenat Haroon Rashid Writing Prize for Women for 2024 was awarded to Mariah Burney for her essay ‘The Night Shift.’ Mariah will receive a cash award of Rs100,000.

This year the prize was awarded for non-fiction and was chosen by a judging panel that included writers Sabyn Javeri and Victoria Schofield, Dawn Magazines Editor Hasan Zaidi, British Council Pakistan’s Deputy Director Maarya Rehman and freelance editor Shan Vahidy.

The judges agreed that ‘The Night Shift’ was an insightful, refreshing and humorous depiction of Pakistan’s struggling medical system, portrayed through the eyes of overworked and underappreciated medical students. Although rooted in Pakistan, it had universal echoes for medical students everywhere.

The winning author, Mariah Burney, is a medical student based in Karachi, whose first love is writing. Despite missing out on the privilege of pursuing a writing degree, she continues to nurture her dreams of becoming a published author and believes that winning the ZHR Prize is the first step towards achieving this.

In a very competitive year, the judges also ‘Highly Commended’ five other shortlisted stories for their literary merit:

• ‘A Trip to Seaview’ by Vaneeza Sohail. An evocative and poignant meditation on Karachi, which cleverly weaves together the personal and the external to demonstrate how a city is about the relationships we have in it.

• ‘Chhoti Aurat’ by Irta Usman. A compelling yet amusing narrative about a young woman navigating the expectations and limitations imposed by the complexities of having an arranged marriage.

• ‘Dupatta’ by Fatima Hasan. A nuanced exploration of the dupatta as both a symbol of cultural identity and a marker of societal expectations, which is at once liberating and constraining.

• ‘Softening the Steel in My Spine’ by Laila Ghaffar. Well-crafted, and engaging in its experimental nature, this is a deeply reflective exploration of personal and political struggles.

• ‘Walking Daydreams’ by Maliha Khan. A powerful portrayal of resilience and self-discovery through the simple yet profound act of walking. It blends personal reflection with broader themes of gender, mobility and independence.

The winning submission will be published in Eos and shortly thereafter, all shortlisted submissions will be published on the official prize website. In December, some of the longlisted entries will also be published on the website.

For more information: https://www.zhrwritingprize.com

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, November 17th, 2024