The second edition of Tehran’s Story Award will announce the winners at a ceremony on Dec. 24.
Entries, each reflecting one aspect or more of Tehran’s geography, climate, historical places, cultural and athletic fields, public transport system, among others, will compete for the first three awards, and $300 to $2000 cash prizes, Mehr News Agency reported.
Mina Farshid Nik, secretary of the event and senior editor of the Persian language newspaper ‘Hamshahri,’ said the award ceremony “is aimed at recording unique aspects of Tehran in stories of Iranian contemporary authors.”
Organized by the Tehran Beautification Organization (TBO), affiliated to the Tehran Municipality, the award is co-hosted by the Transportation and Traffic Organization, Radio Tehran and Hamshahri Publication Group.
Tehran city should be the central focus of the stories. “Urban elements and symbols should be interwoven in the themes,” Farshid Nik said.
Climatic and geographical features, Tehran in different historical eras, ancient textures, cultural and artistic tales, city symbols and unique places, holy sites, urban transportation and traffic, architecture and lifestyle, were cited among the elements for the stories.
Organizers hope the event will provide an opportunity to retell and keep alive the stories of the capital city and encourage the creation of more urban stories, with Tehran in the spotlight. The city was the seat of the Qajars and Pahlavis, the two last imperial dynasties. It is also home to many historical textures, such as the former palaces, namely Golestan, Saadabad, and Niavaran.
A total of 1,362 works were submitted till October 22, the deadline. “The works are of high quality compared to the first edition and perfectly reflect the soul of Tehran,” Farshid Nik said.
Last year’s edition of the award (Dec. 24, 2014), commemorated veteran writer Ghasem Hasheminejad, a pioneer in Persian detective fiction. He authored the novel ‘Elephant in the Dark’ (1980).
Nasrin Mar’ashi for ‘River’, Arash Sadeqbeigi for ‘Summer Rain’ and Aeen Norouzi for ‘Social Melody’ won the first, second and third prized respectively at the first edition.
