Vogue India launches contest to identify young writing talent

Vogue India has launched the Vogue Talent Contest for Young Writers, a contest which will look at identifying and bringing into focus young creative writing talent from across the country.

Instituted by Vogue UK, the Vogue Talent Contest for Young Writers has been a prestigious writing award in UK for over 60 years. Vogue's European editor Hamish Bowles was a finalist in UK Vogue's Talent Contest in 1978 and accepted a position at US Vogue in 1992.

Priya Tanna, editor, Vogue India says, "Given the exponential growth of the fashion and luxury market, there is a need to build a new generation of experts in the area. Taking our role as the fashion authority seriously, we want to promote new talent through this hunt."

Oona Dhabhar, marketing director, Conde Nast India comments, "It is our aim to raise the standard of fashion journalism in the country. We strongly believe there is tremendous potential in our youth but no opportunity befitting. A platform as 'Vogue's Talent Contest for fashion journalism' will give young writers a rare chance to have their work noticed by the experts."

Reaching out to young writers, Vogue will interact with over a 100 colleges across India - the top journalism and mass communication colleges and fashion institutes. The contest will also be promoted by bookstores across the country - Crossword, Oxford and Landmark, while online, it will be promoted on www.vogue.in and on social network sites such as Facebook and Orkut.

The winner and runner up of the contest will be announced in the June issue of the magazine. The winner will get published in Vogue and receive a special mention on the Vogue India masthead, a six-week training programme with the team along with a monetary reward of Rs 30,000. The runner-up will receive a monetary reward of Rs 15,000.

Entries will be judged by a jury comprising of Vogue India's editor, Priya Tanna; Vogue India's fashion features director, Bandana Tewari; Vogue's vice president and editorial director- New Markets, Anna Harvey; writer Pico Iyer; designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Senior VP, IMG Fashion, Fern Mallis.