ELIGIBILITY

The Competition is open to all women over the age of 18  of Pakistani nationality or Pakistani heritage with a valid CNIC, NICOP or Pakistani passport. The competition is open to both professional and unpublished writers. No family member, relative or close associate of  Zeenat Haroon Rashid may enter. No previous competition winner may enter for two years subsequent to her win. A submission that has been long listed  for the ZHR Prize in any year may not be re-submitted in a subsequent year.

 

GENRE, THEME AND LENGTH

This year the Prize will be awarded for NONFICTION. Your submission should be a narrative or polemical essay, travelogue, memoir or biography on a theme or subject of your choosing as long as its location and canvas is recognisably Pakistan and its focus is on the country's culture and society. Entries should be prose writing in English of no more than 3000 words in length. Please note that poetry or fiction will not be accepted.

 

ORIGINAL

The submission must be the individual and original work of a sole author which has not previously been broadcast or published, in print or online. The submitted work may not be a winning or shortlisted work in any other competition or a translation or re-working of a previously published piece by the author or another author’s work. By submitting an entry you are confirming that the work is your own. Any evidence to the contrary will result in immediate disqualification and a permanent ban on the offending author for future competitions.

 

SUBMISSION OF ENTRIES

• The opening date for submission of entries is APRIL 1, 2024 and closing date is JUNE 30, 2024. Entries submitted outside these dates will not be considered.

• Only one submission per person is permitted.

• No pre-registration is required and there is no entry fee.

• Entries must be submitted via email only to entry@zhrwritingprize.com 

• The submitted work should be a file attached to an email and the FILENAME OF THE ATTACHMENT MUST BE THE TITLE OF THE ENTRY.

• ​The subject heading in the email should be the ORIGINAL TITLE of the submitted work.

• The email must contain your NAME, DATE OF BIRTH, CURRENT POSTAL ADDRESS, CONTACT TELEPHONE NUMBER and CNIC, NICOP or PASSPORT NUMBER (do not send scans of these documents). Please ensure the accuracy of your personal details. If your current postal address does not match your ID document, you will be asked to provide proof of residence should your entry be considered for the Longlist.

• Because the judging is "blind", entrants should ensure that personal details are not visible on the document containing the work itself.

 

FORMAT

• The submitted work should be a separate file attached to an email. The file extensions must be either .doc, .docx,  or .txt file. PHOTO OR SCAN FORMATS SUCH AS JPEGS AND PDFS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.  Please do not embellish the title page or text with illustrations or graphics of any kind.  

• Black 12pt. font of any standard typeface should be used.

• The submitted work should have a TITLE PAGE on which a total WORD-COUNT is noted. DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME OR ANY IDENTIFYING MARKS ON THE MANUSCRIPT

 

JUDGING 

Experienced readers will choose submissions for a longlist from amongst all valid entries. The longlist will be considered by a panel of judges drawn from professional writers, editors, academics and publishers. The judging panel will then decide a shortlist of 6 submissions from which they will select the winner. All decisions made by the judges are final and no correspondence will be entered into.

 

NOTIFICATIONS

All entries submitted during the period specified will be acknowledged by automated email. All candidates considered for inclusion in the longlist will be asked to submit email scans of their ID documents. Some may be contacted via telephone for further verification. The titles of longlisted submissions  will be published on our website on or before AUGUST 30, 2024. The titles of the shortlisted submissions will be published on our website on or before OCTOBER 30, 2024. The winner will be announced on or before NOVEMBER 15, 2024.

 

PRIZE

The ZHR Writing Prize for Women will award a cash prize of Rs.100,000 ( One Hundred Thousand Rupees) to the winner of the competition.

 

COPYRIGHT

Worldwide copyright of each piece of writing remains with the author but the ZHR Writing Prize for Women will have the unrestricted right to publish the shortlisted submissions on their website and the winning submission in a national newspaper or magazine (print or online) if appropriate.

 

SUBMISSION OF ENTRY IMPLIES ACCEPTANCE OF ALL THE RULES 

FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THE RULES MAY RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION

​

THE ZHR WRITING PRIZE FOR WOMEN RESERVES THE RIGHT TO AMEND THESE RULES WHERE IT IS DEEMED NECESSARY TO DO SO  

ANY CHANGES TO THE RULES WILL BE POSTED ON THE PRIZE WEBSITE