KES announces winners of Gordon Graham Prize for Naga Literature 2021

 Kohima Educational Society (KES), the Nagaland counterpart of the Kohima Educational Trust has announced winners of the Gordon Graham Prize for Naga Literature for the year 2021.

The 2021 prize for the Fiction Category was awarded to 

Waiting for the Dust to Settle by Veio Pou while the 2021 prize for Non-Fiction Category was awarded to: 

The Chang Nagas – In memory of our undefeated ancestors by Wangto Chingmak.                          

All entries for the GGPNL 2021 were read by a team of international jurists from the UK and India including well-known international publishers, representing the KET and the KES.

A shortlist of 10 entries were then selected and declared in the month of August.  

A three-member eminent panel of independent scholars and writers comprising of Professor A.N.S Ahmed, Professor Vikas Kumar and Dr. Easterine Kire made the final decision to adjudge the winners.

The decision was based on the criteria that honored the spirit of the Gordon Graham’s mission statement:  To promote good writing and to raise the profiles of Naga writers. The award is aimed at recognizing and rewarding the knowledge-keepers and idea-givers of Naga Society. It is intended to encourage reading and writing within the Naga community, and, of course, more harmonious interactions within Naga society and with others.

In 2004, the surviving veterans of the British 2nd Division, who fought in the Battle of Kohima established the Kohima Educational Trust (KET), a charitable educational trust in the UK, to assist with the education of Naga children, the descendants of their Naga allies during the Battle in 1944.

The idea was initiated by Gordon Graham who himself fought at Kohima as a young Captain. Gordon also wanted to promote Naga Literature and thus was born the Gordon Graham Prize for Naga Literature, open to all Nagas regardless of domicile. This is the third edition of the Literature Prize, one each in fiction and non-fiction categories. 

The winners of the Gordon Graham Prize for Naga Literature for the year 2021 would be awarded in an official ceremony on November 30.