The National Book Trust (NBT) has announced the results of the All India Contest on the theme ‘National Movement of India’, held under the PM YUVA Mentorship Scheme as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav programmes.
The mentorship scheme for young authors was launched by the ministry of education, Government of India, with NBT as the implementing agency; 75 authors under the age of 30 have been finally chosen.
Two of the selected authors are below 15 years, whereas there are 16 authors in the age group of 15-20 years, 32 fall in the age group of 21-25 years, and 25 authors are in the age group of 26-30 years.
During the mentorship, the authors will receive a scholarship of Rs 50,000 per month for a period of six months. A royalty of 10% will be payable to the authors on successful publications of their books.
The selected authors will be undergoing six months of mentorship in which they would be provided research and editorial support under the guidance of eminent authors and the editorial team of National Book Trust, India.
They would further develop their book proposals as complete books to be published by the trust as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav initiatives. Their published books will be later translated into other Indian languages as well.
Narendra Modi, Prime Minister, India in his address of Mann Ki Baat in January 2021 has called upon young authors to write about India’s freedom fighters, events associated with them and tales of valour during freedom struggle from their areas.
The contest was held from June 1, 2021 to July 31, 2021 through MyGov and NBT platforms. About 16,000 entries in 22 official languages and English were received from all across the country including some from the Indian diaspora community. All the book proposals were read by multiple panels of experts and went through three layers of scrutiny.