Hamazkayin Eastern USA Announces 3rd Annual Tölölyan Prize Competition

WATERTOWN, Mass.—The Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society of Eastern USA is currently soliciting submissions for the third annual Minas and Kohar Tölölyan Prize in Contemporary Literature. As with last year, two writers—one for the Armenian-language submissions and one for English-language submissions—will be awarded as the winners of the Tölölyan Prize in Contemporary Literature.

Named after one of the major Armenian literary critics of the second half of the 20th century and his wife, a devoted teacher of that literature for decades, the annually awarded prize will recognize the work produced by talented writers working in North America. The prize is intended to encourage new work in all the major genres of literary production, as they are currently understood in North America. In this expanded understanding, poetry, short stories, novels, and drama are all included, as are works of creative non-fiction, a genre that includes memoirs, as well as personal, descriptive, and literary critical essays. Representatives of all these genres may be offered as candidates for the prize. Work in Armenian and English will be considered, as long as the authors are of Armenian ancestry, and/or the work has an Armenian theme or revolves around an Armenian topic.

The primary purpose of the prizes is to encourage and offer recognition through the award and through the ensuing publicity for those who wish to write about Armenian themes and topics. There will also be a modest financial award of $1,500 each for the Armenian- and English-language awards.

The jury judging all submissions is comprised of Dr. Sima Aprahamian (Montreal), Dr. Vartan Matiossian (New York/New Jersey), Gourgen Arzoumanian (California), Yervant Kotchounian (California), and Anoush Agnerian (Montreal). Dr. Khachig Tölölyan is rotating off the jury this year, and is being replaced by Agnerian. Hamazkayin Eastern USA is grateful to Tölölyan for his leadership and stewardship of the prize over the past years. Kotchunian will assume the operational responsibilities of the committee, where he has been a key contributor for the past two years.

The prizes will be announced at Hamazkayin’s Annual Pan Gathering in May 2015. All submissions must be sent electronically to tololyan_award@hamazkayin-usa.org as a PDF file by Jan. 31, 2015. All submissions must also be accompanied by the Tololyan Prize Application found online, at http://bit.ly/167vSsM. The Armenian and English versions of the Rules and Regulations of the award can also be found at the above link.

Submissions may consist of work published either in 2013 or 2014. Recent work that has yet to be published may also be submitted. This award has been made possible by the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Edward and Vergine Misserlian of San Francisco, Calif.

The Eastern USA Region of Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society, a 501 c (3) not for profit organization, constitutes one of the branches of the worldwide Hamazkayin family, founded in 1928. The Eastern United States region, headquartered in Massachusetts, is comprised of eight chapters in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, Providence, and Washington, D.C. Hamazkayin aims to empower its membership to nurture and promote Armenian arts and culture. Given Armenians’ millennia-long history, it is cognizant of the dynamic nature of the concept of identity. To that end, Hamazkayin strives to maintain our identity and heritage while encouraging cultural innovation, and is committed to furthering the contribution of Armenian culture to the complex tapestry of world civilizations.