The Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society of the Eastern United States this week announced the establishment of the Minas and Kohar Tölölyan Prize in Contemporary Literature, The Armenian Weekly reports.
Named after one of the major Armenian literary critics of the second half of the 20thcentury, 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 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 included, as are works of creative non-fiction—a genre that includes memoirs, as well as personal, descriptive, and literary critical essays. Representatives of these genres may be offered as candidates for the prize. Work in Armenian, English, French, and Spanish will be considered, as long as the authors are of Armenian ancestry, or the work has an Armenian theme or revolves around an Armenian topic.
The primary purpose of the Tölölyan Prize is to encourage and offer recognition through the award and ensuing publicity to those who wish to write about Armenian themes and topics.
The winner of the prize, and its modest financial award of $2,500, will be announced at Hamazkayin’s Annual Pan Gathering in early May, with the first award to be presented in Boston on May 2013.
