Introduced in 2006, the awards in this category have been won by poets, short story writers and playwrights. The volume of entries has grown exponentially over the years and has explored a diversity of styles and themes – from performance poetry to science fiction. The composition of the jury for these awards includes poets, literary critics, novelists, journalists, scholars and teachers from different parts of the country.
2025 Shortlist – Creative Writing (English)
We are happy to announce that four writers have been shortlisted for this year’s TOTO Awards for Creative Writing in English.
Jayant Kashyap, Indore
Anushka Paresh Nagarmath, Mumbai
Abhijeet Singh, Lucknow
Pranav VS, Bengaluru
These awards are being supported by Naboneeta Majumdar (in memory of Dipali and Nitai Majumdar) and Sarita Vellani
Past Winners
Zainab Ummer Farook, Faiz Ahmad (2024)
Moachiba Jamir, Aparna Chivukula (2023)
Aswin Vijayan, Uday Kanungo (2022)
Kunjana Parashar, Amulya B (2021)
Riddhi Dastidar, Noor Niamat Singh (2020)
Swati Simha, Shreya Ila Anasuya (2019)
Maya Palit, Urvashi Bahuguna (2018)
Arvind Jayan, Sohini Basak (2017)
Tushar Jain, Danish Shaikh (2016)
Mohit Parikh, Kaushik Viswanath (2015)
Rohan Chhetri, Mihir Vatsa (2014)
Swetanshu Bora, Aditi Rao (2013)
Ramneek Singh, Joshua Muyiwa (2012)
Deepika Arwind, Ishita Basu Mallik (2011)
Abhishek Majumdar, Ram Ganesh Kamatham (2010)
Aditi Machado, Neel Chaudhuri (2009)
Anindita Sengupta, Arka Mukhopadhyay (2008)
Monica Mody, Sneha Rajaram (2007)
Nisha Susan, Shakti Bhatt, SS Prasad (2006)