(From Singlitstation. Link to the post given below)
The Hawker Prize for Southeast Asian Poetry invites editors of literary journals based in or who identify with Southeast Asia to nominate poems they believe are deserving of greater recognition.
We want to focus on the independent journals and publications from our region that curate amazing work from around the world; we want to draw attention not just to the poets these journals / publications publish, but to their publishers and editors as well. We decided on the name “Hawker Prize” as it hints at our food-loving regional cultures, and also places an emphasis on the platforms which regularly hawk poetry to hungry and eager readers.
The winning poems will be awarded $1,500, $700 and $300 for the first, second and third place respectively. We will accept works written in English and poems translated into English. Works will be accepted from journals based in or affiliated with Southeast Asia, whether or not the authors of those works are from Southeast Asia.
The winning works will be linked here on the competition website to the journals / publications where they originated from. Special features on the winning journals / publications will also be published to showcase their history and contextualise their efforts in the literary arts, to be rolled out within the third quarter of 2019.
The winning poems of the 2018 Hawker Prize may be read here; our interviews with the winning journals’ editors can be read here.
The Hawker Prize for Southeast Asian Poetry was only made possible due to the donations and grants that we receive as a charity and IPC. We would especially like to thank Rambutan Literary for contributing to our cash pool for the 2018 prize winners; Rambutan Literary prides itself on being an online literary and arts journal dedicated to showcasing work from mainland, maritime and diasporic Southeast Asia and to cultivating Southeast Asian writing and artistic communities.
