Desi Writers Lounge is proud to announce its first monetary prize for writers.

The Dastaan Award, worth 50,000 Pakistani Rupees, will be given to one of the three winners of DWL’s annual short story competition. The title of the award pays homage to the South Asian tradition of the dastaan, which is synonymous with inspirational, world-class storytelling. The prize is open to writers from all over the world.

DWL will celebrate its seventh anniversary in 2013. Founded as a community to nurture writing talent from South Asia, it has painstakingly built up a fraternity of budding writers and created an online magazine to showcase new talent. The Dastaan Award is the first in an envisaged array of incentives for new writers that will be offered by DWL.

For more information on the Dastaan Award, please visit the award page on the Papercuts website.