Here Are the Winners of eShe’s Lockdown Poetry Contest 2020

This July, eShe held a nationwide Lockdown Poetry Contest for women writers in association with ICRI India and Harper Collins India.

The jury comprised globally renowned poet Arundhathi Subramaniam and eShe editor Aekta Kapoor.

A total of 108 poems made it to judges’ table after disqualifying entries that came beyond the deadline or were not submitted in the required format. Several children and teenagers had participated too and they were considered separately.

The judges looked for poems that were fresh, inventive, attentive to language, and which offered interesting perspectives.

It was no easy task as competition was stiff. The judges read, reread, debated and finally zoomed down on the top poems among the entries.

And here are the winners!

WINNER

The winner is Arenkala Walling from Dimapur, Nagaland, for her poem Me and My Four Husbands. “It has freshness and originality,” says judge Arundhathi Subramaniam.

Arenkala wins a full scholarship to any Certification Course worth Rs 30,000 (plus GST) from ICRI India, a set of four books from Harper Collins, and an award certificate from eShe.

RUNNERS UP

Here are the 10 runners up. Each will receive a set of two books from Harper Collins and a merit certificate from eShe.

1st Runner Up: Matangi Jayaram, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu – Denial

2nd Runner Up: Ananya Ray, Kolkata, West Bengal – A Long Way Home

3rd Runner Up: Kanika Ahuja, Delhi – How Much Sorrow Is Too Much Sorrow

4th Runner Up: Ashiqua Ahmed, Bongaigaon, Assam – (Ab)normal

5th Runner Up: Anomitra Paul, Kolkata, West Bengal – Coming to a Standstill

6th Runner Up: Arpita Choudhury, Delhi – This Lockdown

7th Runner Up: Arya Gopi, Calicut, Kerala – Navarasa Fugue

8th Runner Up: Anushree Bose, Bengaluru, Karnataka – Almost Fine

9th Runner Up: Suchita Parikh-Mundul, Mumbai, Maharashtra – Window Watching

10th Runner Up: Manjul Bajaj, Gurugram, Haryana – Reversal

SPECIAL MENTION: JUNIORS

Among the juniors, these two stand out and deserve a special mention. Each will receive a set of two books from Harper Collins and a merit certificate from eShe.

Ashwika Chhabria, age 15, Raipur, Chhattisgarh – The Monkey-Ness of It All

S. Rupsha Mitra, age 17, Kolkata, West Bengal – What I Have Known During Lockdown

Congratulations to all the winners! All the winning poems will be published in the September 2020 issue of eShe.

Other deserving poems (which did not make it to the winners’ list by just a few points) will be published in future issues of eShe. Follow eShe or like us on Facebook for updates.