As an avid writer, I love taking part in writing competitions and submitting pieces to a variety of literary magazines. While many don’t actually receive any awards (as expected!), I have been lucky enough to receive a first prize, a few honourable mentions and other awards for certain essays, featured below:

February 2023 – “Desert Dancer: The Ghost Cat of Rajasthan” – Winner of the M. Krishnan Memorial Nature Writing Award 2023, a country-wide essay writing competition organized by the Madras Naturalists Society. You can download and read a PDF version of the essay here.

October 2021 – “Field Notes from a Tiger Forest” – I received an Honourable Mention for a nonfiction essay submitted to the Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest 2021 organized by Winning Writers.

June 2021 – “Parched” – my first personal essay published in a literary magazine! This one is published in The Bangalore Review, a globally-recognized literary magazine, and it is such an honour to be featured. The piece heralds the arrival of the monsoon in Mumbai, my hometown, and is an ode to my favourite season.

April 2021 – “Trysting with Kites” – 2nd Place (Commendable Entry) in the M. Krishnan Memorial Nature Writing Award 2021, a country-wide essay writing competition organized by the Madras Naturalists Society.