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Published on Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 19:11

We at www.oxfordbookstore.com would like to thank all those who participated in e-Author version 3.0 and contributed to its stupendous success. With over 2000 first chapter entries received from extremely talented and bright authors, the editorial team at
www.oxfordbookstore.com found it a Herculean task to shortlist the entries. After a thorough appraisal of all the first chapters, we zeroed in on the seven finalists. They were Devi Yeshodharan, Nihar Pradhan, Sanchayan Sinha, Smitha Parigi, Sudipta Chatterjee, Sujith C Mohan and Suman Bolar.

Nihar Pradhan

Sanchayan Sinha

Sujith C Mohan

Suman Bolar

“I would like to tell young writers that the best way to convey your message is to write in a simple way with simple sentence. Many great writers feel it is difficult to write in a simple way. Using complicated words or style will not attract a reader. In any story, one should have a theme and too much narration is boring. You should write in such a way that people should feel familiar, as if it is happening but it has not happened. As much as possible one should use his/ her experience in writing. A writer will not lose any experience however good or bad. That experience reflects somewhere some time. Writing is not one day’s job it is continuous and every day one should learn.”

- Sudha Murty

Their entries were then sent to our distinguished panel of judges - Mrs Sudha Murty, Ms Shashi Deshpande, Ms Githa Hariharan, Ms Anita Nair, Mr Aniruddha Bahal and Mr Michael Flannery – who announced the three best entries.

CONGRATULATIONS to Devi Yeshodharan, Smitha Parigi and Sudipta Chatterjee for making it to the coveted top spots of the ongoing contest. For the first time, we have an all women final round in e-Author.

The first prize of Rs 10000 goes to Devi Yeshodharan for
We Were Young
The second prize of Rs 6000 goes to Smitha Parigi for Banana La La
The third prize of Rs 4000 goes to Sudipta Chatterjee for Sandcastles

Revised Dates

November 29, 2003: Launch of the e-Author competition.

January 20, 2004: The last date for accepting entries of the first chapters.

March 17-20, 2004: Declaration of the three finalists.

June 10, 2004: Submission of the complete books by the three first chapter winners.

June 17 to July 28, 2004: The judges will read through the three books.

Dates not fixed: The winners will be declared.

Dates not decided: In-house editing of the selected books.

Dates not decided: The winning books will be published on the website

We also extend her heartiest good wishes and the very best to the losing finalists who missed out narrowly in this competition.

As for the winning finalists, their writing skills will be tested further when they submit their complete novels. And there might be some shuffling within the top slots when the final results are announced.

So the three finalists Devi Yesodharan, Smitha Parigi and Sudipta Chatterjee are requested to send us the remaining part of their novels by June 10, 2004. The novel should not exceed 50,000 words.

Send in your entries at eauthor@apeejaygroup.com

The three novels will be sent to the judges again for evaluation. The winner and runners-up of e-Author version 3.0 will be declared on August 3, 2004. Best of Luck!!!

Click to read the three winning first chapters:
1st Finalist: Devi Yeshodharan for We Were Young
2nd Finalist: Smitha Parigi for Banana La La
3rd Finalist: Sudipta Chatterjee for Sandcastles