The Jhalak Prize unveils new poetry award as submissions open for 2025

The Jhalak Prize has announced it is open for 2025 submissions, with a new award, the Jhalak Poetry Prize, to be presented for the first time alongside the Jhalak Prose Prize and the Jhalak Children’s and YA Prize.

Judging the inaugural Poetry Prize will be poets Jason Allen-Paisant, Malika Booker and Will Harris, while the Prose Prize will be judged by authors Taran Khan, Sareeta Domingo and Yepoka Yeebo. Judging the Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize will be authors Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Hiba Noor Khan and Alom Shaha. 

The 2024 winners Yepoka Yeebo and Hiba Noor Khan will also be part of this year’s judging panels along with authors Yassmin-Abdel Magied, Jason Allen-Paisant, Malika Booker, Sareeta Domingo, Will Harris, Taran Khan and Alom Shaha.

Prize-director Sunny Singh said: “We are particularly excited about our new Jhalak Poetry Prize. From the beginning, poetry has been a compelling part of the submissions and we are delighted to be able to provide greater attention to a genre that is producing some of the most powerful and essential literature today.

“This is our ninth year and our growing portfolio is a sign of change in the industry. There is a long way to go but we expect the submissions to be stronger and more varied than ever before. We are also grateful to our judging panels who exemplify literary excellence, empathy and generosity.”

The prize also announces a new partnership with the independent poetry publisher Ink Sweat & Tears (IS&T), who will support the newly founded Jhalak Poetry Prize through their internship programme.

Publisher Kate Birch said: “IS&T has been a cheerleader for the Jhalak Prizes since their inception. The award’s focus on addressing disparity for people of colour within the publishing industry was an inspiration when, in 2021, the web zine set up its editing internship programme for UK-based poets from the global majority. So IS&T is proud to partner with the Jhalak Foundation on the newly established Poetry Prize, with a special focus on our internship programme. We look forward to a partnership that will offer our strengths to Jhalak and provide opportunities to our interns to benefit from the Jhalak experience.”

All three prizes will be open for submissions between 12th September 2024 and 13th December 2024, for books published between 1st January 2024 and 31st December 2024. The longlists will be announced on 10th March 2025 and the shortlists 15th April 2025. The winners will be announced at the British Library in May 2025, and each will receive £1,000 and an original artwork by an artist of colour. More details on the prize and how to enter can be found here.