PRESS RELEASE: 2nd March 2021
THE MEENAKSHI MUKHERJEE MEMORIAL PRIZE, 2021
The IACLALS is thrilled to announce that the coveted Meenakshi Mukherjee Memorial Prize 2021 edition has gone to Sagar Taranga Mandal, University of Kalyani, for his article ‘Pulsing Cities and Seething Interstices: Poetics of Mediation in Graphic Science Fiction’, published in New Forms of Space and Spatiality in Science Fiction (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019). Heartiest congratulations to Sagar!
The prize was intensely contested this year: the difference between the winner and the runner-up (Nishat Haider) was just 2 marks out of 300, and the difference between the 3rd position (Shaweta Nanda) and the 4th position (a tie between Anubhav Pradhan and Srinjoyee Dutta) was only 1 mark. Congratulations to all the outstanding contestants!
In 2020–21, despite the pandemic, the IACLALS Executive received a large number of entries, out of which sixteen were considered eligible. The distinguished jury comprised: Prof. Malashri Lal (Delhi University), Prof. Suman Gupta (Open University, U.K.), and Prof. Sukrita Paul Kumar (Delhi University). The moderator was Prof. Swati Pal, Vice Chair, IACLALS. The Executive expresses deep appreciation for the jury’s careful and rigorous evaluations.
The Meenakshi Mukherjee Memorial Prize is awarded for the best paper published by a member of the IACLALS during the previous two years. The prize includes a certificate with citation and a cheque of ₹10,000.
Chair
Dr. M. Asaduddin
Professor of English, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi – 110025
Chair, Indian Association for Commonwealth Literature & Language Studies (IACLALS)
Advisor to the Vice Chancellor
Dean, Faculty of Humanities & Languages*
Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence, Rutgers University, USA
Awardee: Crossword Book, Sahitya Akademi, Katha & A.K. Ramanujan Awards