‘The Rainbow Awards for Literature & Journalism’ Returns with Its Second Edition

– Eight-Member Jury to Recognize Honest, Compelling and Unadulterated Writing on Queer Lives
– Entries are open till July 18, 2024

New Delhi, May 30, 2024: Celebrating diverse and authentic queer narratives, The Rainbow Awards for Literature & Journalism (RALJ) returns with its second edition. The period for assessment is work published between the beginning of International Pride Month last year (June 1, 2023), and May 31, 2024.

Launched last year, RALJ received a positive response with close to 100 entries for its inaugural edition. A learning and genre-supporting initiative of the Dwijen Dinanath Arts Foundation, the purpose of the awards is to recognize honest, compelling, and unadulterated storytelling around LGBTQIA+ lives by Indian queer and cis-het writers. It also aims to encourage more and more people to write their own stories with the hope that the media and publishing world is pressured to give the queer community more space.
RALJ invites writers to submit entries* across the categories of Literature (Fiction & Non-fiction) and Journalism (Features & Op-Ed), starting Saturday, May 19, 2024, for a period of eight weeks. The award function will be held during the Rainbow Lit Fest – Queer & Inclusive, which returns this December.

Speaking about the second edition of the Awards, the Founder, Sharif D Rangnekar said “The awards, I hope, help in our larger endeavour to support the creation of a genre focused on queer life. We hope this eventually leads to making more people aware of LGBTQIA+ existence besides providing queer folks with reference points. We believe that the sheer recognition of unadulterated and unfettered expression will encourage others to pen down their stories, whether they are personal or political”.

The power-packed jury this year is:
Fiction
• Parvati Sharma (She / Her) – Author
• Poonam Saxena (She / Her) – Senior journalist, writer, and translator
Non – Fiction
• Niladri R Chatterjee (He / Him) – Professor, Department of English, University of Kalyani; Author & Translator
• Dhamini Ratnam (She / Her) – Senior Editor, The Hindustan Times & Podcaster
Features
• Ashlin Mathew (She / Her) – Multilingual journalist; News Editor, National Herald
• Aroh Akunth (They / Them / She / Her) – Founder, Dalit Queer Project and Dalit Art Archive
Op-Ed
• Sindhu Rajasekaran (She / Her) – Author, Filmmaker and academic
• Sayantan Datta (They / Them) – Independent journalist; Assistant Professor, Krea University

RALJ is associated with a variety of organisations. Kunzum Books returns in the capacity of being both a Bookstore and Process partner. Talking about the awards, Ajay Jain, Founder Kunzum Books said, “I am excited to witness the second edition of the RALJ. At Kunzum, we have ‘The Q List’, a section solely dedicated to queer books, and going forward, we are also creating a space for the winning and shortlisted books from RALJ 2023 and years to come.”

Avian WE also joins hands with the awards as its Communications partner. The Mumbai Press Club, The Naz Foundation (India) Trust, The New Delhi LGBTQIA+ Centre, The Nazariya Foundation, Official Humans of Queer, The Pink List India, The QKnit Foundation, The Keshav Suri Foundation, Queering in Chandigarh, and Yes, We Exist also come together in support of RALJ this year.
*Please find here the detailed criteria and process for entries.

For more information and updates, visit www.therainbowawards.in and follow https://www.instagram.com/therainbowawards_

About The Rainbow Awards for Literature & Journalism
The Rainbow Awards for Journalism & Literature as well as the Rainbow Lit Fest – Queer & Inclusive are owned and run by the Dwijen Dinanath Arts Foundation, a Section 8, not for-profit entity. Supported by donations and funds invested by its founder, Sharif D Rangnekar, the Foundation functions in the area of facilitating and curating platforms related to gender, sexuality, arts and the independent music space. It leverages history and literature as well as current affairs and the multitude of thoughts and views in all it attempts to do.

The Foundation also owns Embrace: Music Justice Arts which engages mostly with Indie musicians, creating collaborations and purpose around their music and lyrics. This platform often uses music and lyrics to raise awareness on a variety of issues besides organising fund-raisers for different causes and NGOs.

Associated with the Rainbow Literature Festival, The Rainbow Awards for Literature & Journalism has been conceptualised to recognize honest, compelling and unadulterated work around LGBTQIA+ lives by Indian queer and cis-het writers. Every year a jury would read and access the variety of entries from publishers, authors, journalists and editors. The endeavour will be to ensure fairness and studied assessments. The selection of eligible entries will be made solely by the jury.