The winners’ list is finally here! And we’re as excited as you are! You’re all going to be published authors – woohoo!
Okay, let’s take a breath and rewind a bit.
The Contest
This September, eShe conducted a nationwide Short Story Contest for women writers. Organised by eShe magazine, the goal was to give 20 talented writers an opportunity to be published in a book of short stories by Embassy Books.
The jury included:
Preeti Shenoy, award-winning author of 13 bestsellers, ranked one of India’s highest selling authors and most influential celebrities
Aruna Joshi, author and chief editor of Embassy Books
Aekta Kapoor, editor and publisher of eShe magazine
The Entries
None of us was prepared for the sheer volume and quality of entries that poured in from all corners of India!
From Kashmir to Assam to Kerala to Gujarat, from stories of love and betrayal to corruption and communal riots, judges were overwhelmed with brilliant stories, 216 in all.
After slaving away for days and weeks, the judges shortlisted 35 entries, which then went through another round of blind judging. Eventually, it was too difficult to pick only 20 of these, and so a decision was made – “Let’s go with 25 winners!”
The Winners
And (drum roll!) here are the winners in alphabetical order:
- Anushree Bose
- Arti Jain
- Arva Bhavnagarwala
- AV Sridevi
- Bhargavi Chatterjea Bhattacharya
- Chandrika R Krishnan
- Divya Vartika
- Manisha Sahoo
- Nasreen Khan
- Natasha Sharma
- Nina Krishna Warrier
- Noopur Joshi Bapat
- Preetha Vasan
- Priyadarshini Sharma
- Priyamvada Singh
- Raina Lopes
- Rajitha Menon
- Ruchika Verma
- Salini Vineeth
- Sangeeta Das
- Sapna D Singh
- Shalini Mullick
- Sulekha Bajpai
- Urvashi Tandon
- V Sangeetha
Congratulations to you all!
What’s Next?
All winners will receive an email and publishing contract from eShe. The contract has to be signed and mailed back with the required information within four days, failing which the position will be given to the next writer in the shortlist.
The book editing and production process will begin after all contracts are signed. The book will be launched in the first quarter of 2021.
Isn’t it all very exciting? We just can’t wait to see this book – it promises to be a masterpiece!
A Special Message
Jury member and bestselling author Preeti Shenoy has a special message for all 216 contestants.
Dear contestant,
Congratulations for writing a beautiful story. I enjoyed the read. Please do not be disheartened if yours was not chosen.
Many, many years ago, long before I became a published author, I took part in a short-story writing contest in school. I won. Later, I took part in many short-story writing contests at University level. I won some, and some I did not win. But I got better with each story I wrote.
Life took over, I got married and raised my children.
A few years later, I got an opportunity to take part in an online short-story contest. I took part with great enthusiasm, remembering my college and school days. I was graded 2.3 out of 5. I was bitterly disappointed. A friend of mine was graded 3.5.
But today, I have authored 13 books (fortunately, all best-sellers) and she has not written a single book.
The message here is that being consistent in your writing is very important if you wish to make it a career.
You have a gift. Use it!
Warmest wishes,
Preeti Shenoy
eShe 
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thank you eShe
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Congratulations to all the winners ..i would like to read each story and will purchase the book and will regularly visit your face book page ,I feel great participating in my first public competition .will continue to pen my experiences as it feels great expressing on paper . I have retired and homebound as I have an aged mother who needs to be cared for .So would like to take this up as a.2nd profession in my sunset years A WRITER …Thank you for Inspiring me ..Stay Safe Stay Blessed ,,Ophealia
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Thank you eShe!! It’s an amazing feeling and honour to be a part of this.
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Congratulations to all winners. Definitely waiting to read the book !
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Congratulations to all the winners! Had participated…..Didn’t win………. It was my first attempt and am not a professional writer so it’s okay. But I’d love to read the winning entries. eshe, I would love to buy a copy of the book when published. Would be grateful if you could intimate.
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All the entries were absolutely fantastic and trust me, the judges had an impossible task of choosing just a handful of them. The book will be out in the first quarter of 2021, please do check it out then. We’ll definitely be putting it up on the website and on all social media channels.
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Thrilled to bits — an understatement!
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Fantastic news. What an honour!
Thank you eShe!!
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