About

First awarded in March 2017, the Jhalak Prize awards seek to celebrate books by writers of colour in the UK and Ireland. In 2020, the single award was bifurcated to create a dedicated Jhalak Children’s YA Prize. From 2024, the Jhalak Poetry Prize has been added to our awards portfolio.

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Our awards only accept entries published in the UK and Ireland by writers of colour. The Jhalak Prose Prize accepts entries including but not limited to fiction, non-fiction, short stories, graphic novels, and all other genres. The newly inaugurated Jhalak Poetry Prize accepts entries of poetry aimed at adults as well as children and young adults. The Jhalak Children’s and YA Prize accepts books for children, teens and young adults including picture books, chapter books, graphic novels, poetry, non-fiction, and all other genres by writers of colour and aimed at younger readers. The prizes are also open to self-published writers. The Prize annually awards £1000 to each winner along with a unique work of art created by artists chosen for the annual Jhalak Art Residency.
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Our annual awards comprise of:

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1.    Jhalak Prose Prize
2.    Jhalak Poetry Prize
3.    Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize

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The British Library internationally live-streamed our 2021 awards and continues to host our awards at an annual in-person event and live-streamed event. Furthermore, all shortlisted authors receive one-year complimentary membership of The London Library, the UK's largest independent library. Each winner receives a two-year complimentary membership.

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Since 2021, the Prize has partnered with National Book Tokens to help increase awareness. Support amongst bookshops for Jhalak titles. 2023, saw over 150 bookshops across the country from independents and Bookshop.org to Waterstones, Foyles and Blackwell’s supporting our 2023 awards instore and online. During the pandemic, the partnership also ran the Bookshop Champions programme to showcase and support independent bookshops in diverse reading communities.

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The Jhalak Prize awards are administered by the Jhalak Foundation, a UK registered charity that focusses on literary and artistic initiatives that celebrate and support diversity, inclusion and equity.