Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize

04/11/2025

A heartfelt evening at the Secunderabad Club marked the Centenary Celebration of Srinivas Rayaprol (R.S. Marthandam) — a man who balanced precision and poetry with equal grace.

Organised by the Srinivas Rayaprol Literary Trust and the Department of English, University of Hyderabad, the event brought together family, poets, writers, and admirers from across India and abroad to honour his remarkable life and legacy. ✨📖

The evening also saw the presentation of the 17th Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize 2025, awarded to Mubashira Patel, a young poet from Mumbai University whose writing reflects sensitivity, lyrical beauty, and emotional depth. 🏆📜

04/11/2025

🌟 Celebrating 100 Years of Srinivas Rayaprol — Poet, Engineer, Visionary 🌟

A heartfelt evening at the Secunderabad Club marked the Centenary Celebration of Srinivas Rayaprol (R.S. Marthandam) — a man who balanced precision and poetry with equal grace.

Organised by the Srinivas Rayaprol Literary Trust and the Department of English, University of Hyderabad, the event brought together family, poets, writers, and admirers from across India and abroad to honour his remarkable life and legacy. ✨📖

The evening also saw the presentation of the 17th Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize 2025, awarded to Mubashira Patel, a young poet from Mumbai University whose writing reflects sensitivity, lyrical beauty, and emotional depth. 🏆📜

Read more here https://www.srinivasrayaprol.in/celebrating-100-years-of-srinivas-rayaprol/

💐 Family Tributes:

Prof. Aparna Rayaprol, youngest daughter and Professor of Sociology at UoH, opened the evening with a moving welcome.

Manorama Kanuri, second daughter, shared a touching narrative “From Birth to 1998”, recalling her father’s early years and professional journey.

Ashok Kanuri, son-in-law, raised a heartfelt toast in memory of Rayaprol.

Subhadra, a close family friend, shared warm reflections that beautifully closed the evening.

📚 Special Guests & Readings:

Graziano Krätli, joining from Yale University, spoke about Why Should I Write a Poem Now, the correspondence between Rayaprol and William Carlos Williams.

Poet Sridala Swami and writer Pratap Reddy read from Rayaprol’s works.

Sharmistha Mohanty, poet and founder-editor of Almost Island, presented the award and read from her recent books The Gods Came Afterwards and Extinctions.

🎥 Tributes & Memories:
Speakers like S.P. Shorey and Lakshmi Pamarthy reminisced about Rayaprol’s days with HUDA (now HMDA), while a touching video message from Sri Balakrishna, Mr. Zafarullah Khan, and colleagues remembered him with great affection.

✨ The centenary celebration was both poetic and deeply personal — honouring Srinivas Rayaprol, an engineer who built cities by day and worlds of words by night. His legacy continues to inspire generations of poets and dreamers. 🌿🖋️

💫

28/09/2025

📜✨ 𝗠𝘂𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗮 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘀 𝗥𝗮𝘆𝗮𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗹 𝗣𝗼𝗲𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 ✨📜

The Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize 2025 has been awarded to Mubashira Patel 🎉✍️, a 26-year-old postgraduate student of Sociology at Mumbai University 🎓. Selected from a field of 126 entrants, she was chosen by a distinguished jury comprising poet Sharmistha Mohanty 🌿, founder-editor of Almost Island, along with two faculty members of the Department of English, University of Hyderabad 📖.

Mubashira, who has been writing since the age of eight ✨, describes herself as “a literature aficionado, an amateur philosopher, and a newly published poet.” Her academic and creative pursuits often intersect, engaging with themes of marginal voices and cultural memory 🌍, articulated through a lyric form and a commitment to emotional excavation 💫.

The jury also accorded special mention 👏 to Abhilipsa Sahoo for her noteworthy work.

Instituted by the Srinivas Rayaprol Literary Trust 🕊️ and jointly administered with the Department of English, University of Hyderabad 🎓, this prize is widely regarded as a significant recognition of excellence in poetry written in English 📜 by poets in the age group of 20–40 years.

The 17th edition of the Prize 🏆—consisting of a citation and ₹15,000 cash award—will be presented on October 25, 2025, marking the 100th Birth Anniversary of Srinivas Rayaprol 🌟.

🔗 Read more: https://www.srinivasrayaprol.in/mubashira-patel-wins-the-srinivas-rayaprol-poetry-prize-2025/

🏆 ✨ 🎓 📖 🕊️ 🌿 ✍️ 🌟 📜 🌟

02/09/2025

Thank you for those poets who have made their submissions for this year's Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize. We have received entries from over 100 of you. We are grateful for your enthusiastic response for this 16-year old poetry prize. WE HAVE NOW OFFICIALLY CLOSED THE ENTRIES FOR THIS YEAR'S PRIZE. Thanks again.

26/07/2025

The 17th Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize - Call for Entries

Entries are invited from Indian citizens between 20-40 years of age and writing poetry in English for the 17th Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize. The Prize was instituted by the Srinivas Rayaprol Literary Trust to recognize excellence in poetry written in English and is being administered jointly by the Department of English, University of Hyderabad. The prize consisting of a cash award of Rs.15,000 and a citation will be presented at a literary event on October 25th 2025, the birth centenary of Srinivas Rayaprol. The entries will be judged by a distinguished jury of poets and literary personalities.


Entries must include:

1. Three (3) different, unpublished poems written by the applicant; Please put all the three poems in one single word or pdf document and not separate files. Do not send zip folders. The ID proof must be a separate file and not part of the poetry.

2. Evidence of age; (scanned copies of passport, driver’s license, pan card, or any other valid id)

3. Complete contact information (including phone numbers and email addresses).

Note: Please do not put your name on the poems to be submitted to the jury members.

Entries must be sent to Prof. Aparna Rayaprol, Convener, Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize, only by email ([email protected]) latest by September 1, 2025. Please do not send hard copies by post.

29/01/2025

The 16th Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize was presented to AJAY KUMAR, a 23-year old student from Chennai, by the well-known poet, Menka Shivdasani at the Hyderabad Literary Festival on January 25, 2025. Family members representing the Srinivas Rayaprol Literary Trust, Aparna Rayaprol and Manorama Kanuri introduced the Prize and Srinivas Rayaprol, respectively. Menka Shivdasani, who was the poet-jury for this year's prize, spoke about the poetic skill of Ajay Kumar who came through a list of 36 entries long-listed. Neethu Krishnan, Aparna Chivukula, and Nikita Parikh were the other contestants who were shortlisted by the jury. Menka and Ajay read their respective poetry to an appreciative audience who gathered for the occasion. The prize is administered jointly by the Trust and the Department of English, University of Hyderabad. Photos: Saranya Pavarala

21/01/2025

Presentation of the 16th Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize to Ajay Kumar at Hyderabad Literary Festival on Friday, January 25, 5 pm. Poet jury member, Menka Shivdasani and the winner, Ajay Kumar, will read their poetry.

09/11/2024

Ajay Kumar Wins Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize 2024

Ajay Kumar, a 23-year old student of English Literature, is the winner of the 2024 Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize. He was selected from among 66 competitors this year by the Mumbai-based poet, Menka Shivdasani and two faculty members of the Department of English at the University of Hyderabad who constituted the jury. Neethu Krishnan, Aparna Chivukula, and Nikita Parik have been shortlisted and received special mention from the jury.

Ajay Kumar, a Chennai-based poet, is the author of the e-chapbook, 'balancing acts' (Yavanika Press, 2023) and has published his poems in The Bombay Literary Magazine, Rattle, The Bombay Review, Usawa, ASAP Art, gulmohur, The Alipore Post, nether, The Bangalore Review, Muse India, The Chakkar, and The Yearbook of Indian Poetry in English, among others. He was longlisted for the Toto Funds the Arts Creative Writing Award in 2023. He has a Masters in Literary and Cultural Studies from EFLU, Hyderabad, and is currently working on the manuscript of his first poetry collection.

Recognised as a significant award for creative writing in India, the Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize was instituted by the Hyderabad-based Srinivas Rayaprol Literary Trust to recognize excellence in poetry written in English by poets in the age group of 20-40 years. The Prize is jointly administered by the Department of English, University of Hyderabad.

The inaugural prize was awarded in 2009 to Aditi Machado and, subsequently, to Hemant Mohapatra (2010), Aditi Rao (2011), Tushar Jain (2012), Mihir Vatsa (2013), Ranjani Murali (2014), Aishwarya Iyer (2015), Goirick Brahmachari (2016), Debarshi Mitra (2017), Poorna Swami (2018), Prashant Parvataneni (2019), Satya Dash (2020), Pervin Saket (2021), Syam Sudhakar (2022) and Nikita Deshpande (2023). Eminent poets like Jeet Thayil, Sudeep Sen, Keki Daruwalla, Arundhathi Subramanian, Manohar Shetty, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Ranjit Hoskote, E.V. Ramakrishnan, Gieve Patel, Mamang Dai, Vinay Dharwadker, Mani Rao and Sridala Swami have previously been associated with the prize as jury members.

This 16th Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize, consisting of a citation and cash prize of Rs. 15,000, will be presented to the winner at the Hyderabad Literary Festival in January 2025.

🖋️📚 https://www.srinivasrayaprol.in/ajay-kumar-wins-the-srinivas-rayaprol-poetry-prize-2024/

31/10/2024

Fake account alert: Friends, I have been alerted about a fake FB account that was created under my last name and my picture. Please ignore any friend requests.

08/09/2024

LAST 2 DAYS to submit your entries! If you are an Indian citizen between 20-40 years of age and write poetry in English, you may want to submit your work for the 2024 Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize. Deadline: SEPTEMBER 10. Details here:

Entries are invited from Indian citizens between 20-40 years and writing poetry in English for the 15th Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize. Deadline 3 September 2023