Kahani - A South Asian literary magazine for children

Summer 2009

Winners of Kahani's Fourth Annual Writing Contest

Thanks to all of you who participated in Kahani’s Fourth Annual Young Writers and Illustrators Contest. A special shout out goes to our readers in Malaysia who contributed this year!

A note from writer and editor Sandhya Nankani who judged this year’s entries:

It’s no easy task to sit down with a blank piece of paper and three words—peacock, fever, and mountain—and come up with an original story. Kudos to all of you who took up this challenge and submitted your work to the Kahani annual writing contest! It was an honor to read your work and to be given the responsibility of picking the three winners.

All of the stories that I read were memorable, and I was quite impressed with the creative ways in which each of you used the three words. So, when it came to making the final selections, I looked for three things. First, a writer who was able to seamlessly weave the three words into an entertaining story. Two, I wanted the characters and settings to stand out. I wanted to feel like I knew them and that they were believable, even if the story was taking place in a fantasy world. And, three, I wanted a pick a story that I knew the readers of Kahani would enjoy reading!

Congratulations to the finalists.

A final word of advice to all you young writers: Words are like beads and a story is like a necklace. It’s not just the individual words that matter. How you string them together to create a design—or structure—counts too. Always think of a story as something with a beginning, middle, and an end. Always ask yourself: Is there a conflict or problem here that my characters face? And, always remember your readers. We like to go to interesting places, to laugh, smile, and to be entertained. Keep these things in mind and your stories will soar.

Now, here are this year’s winners of the Kahani short story contest:

Contest Info

Entry Form


6-8 Age Group 1st place - MAYA FIORE, Massachusetts, Puja and the Peacock Read Story \| Download Template 2nd place - AVNI SINGH, Texas, Pitachio the Peacock's Adventure Read the Story 3rd place - DEVIKA TIWARI, Illinois, The Wonderful Show-and-Tell Read the Story 9-11 Age Group 1st place - ANANTH SHASTRI, Massachusetts, The Foolish Peacock Read the Story \| Download Template 2nd place - ANISHA AGARWAL, Massachusetts, No Fun Being Sick Read the Story 3rd place - VAED KHURJEKAR, New Jersey, Dev and His Dream Read the Story Honorable Mentions 6-8 Age Group Abhay Bal Deshpande, New Jersey, The Lion and the Peacock Archana Verma, Illinois, The Mountain Climb Arushi Agarwal, Maryland, The Peahen Around the World Keshav Rama Narra, Michigan, The Peacock That Had a Fever Krupa Mysore, Connecticut, The Girl Who Loved Peacocks Maneesha Nagabandi, Pennsylvania, Peak and his Lucky Charm Meghana Vemulapalli, Pennsylvania, Friendship Minerva Johar, New York, Turquoise Niharika S. Desiraju, California, Magical Peacock Quinn Freer-Hessler, New York, Fever Mountain Riya Chhabra, New Jersey, The Cure Samantha Lee Xuen, Malaysia, The Peacock’s Feather and the Cure for Dengue Fever Shreya Jeya Ramesh, Virginia, Sheela’s Adventurous Daydream Shreya P. Nair, Massachusetts, The Vacation Tara Bal Deshpande, New Jersey, BFF – Best Friends Forever Urja Sen, Michigan, The Peacock and the Owl Vidusha Srivatsan, California, The Brave Brother 9-11 Age Group Ayesha Harisinghani, Massachusetts, Mystery on the Mountain Dhruv Mathur, Canada, Peacock Fever Esha Bissessur, Arizona, Dazzling Spring Ethan Oliver, Massachusetts, The Colorful Cure Henrietta The, Malaysia, An Arrogant Peacock Hye-Min Eom, Malaysia, The Promise About a Peacock Iris Oliver, Massachusetts, Fighting Fever Isha Battu, New Jersey, The Assignment Malvika Sridhar, Texas, The Healing Feather Maya Reddi, Texas, The Sick Peacock Maya Varma, California, The Valiant Peacock Meghana Gorur, Pennsylvania, The Journey to Mount Kailash Nadia Aniff, New York, The Peacock Family Nikita Minocha, Massachusetts, The Rescuer Park Se Ri, Malaysia, Mrs. Molly Prannoy Chaudhuri, Canada, The Himalayas Sarah Jacqueline Saram, Malaysia, Peacock Eyes Sharifa Sonia, Malaysia, Peacock Fever Sravya Tadepalli, Oregon, Aruna’s Typewriter Tammy Chee, Malaysia, Snooty Prune Tanya Kotecha, Malaysia, Year 2200 Xiandra Alanza Javed Abdullah, Malaysia, My Journey to the Amazon Zoe Clare Freer-Hessler, New York, The Peacock’s Treasure Zoe Bowden, Malaysia, Mystical Magical Mountain