Essay Competition in Kohima

A two-day event was held in Kohima at the end of November 2021 to mark both the inaugural Essay Writing competition, and the Gordon Graham Prize for Naga Literature.  Honoured guests and participants were welcomed to the Hotel Japfu in Kohima.

On the first day, a book fair was held in conjunction with a programme of events including speeches and book readings to mark the occasion.  A welcome speech was given by Dr P Ngully, Chairman of the Kohima Educational Society, and the proceedings were chaired by Dr Easterine Kire, celebrated Naga author and a previous winner of the GGPNL.  The guest of honour was J Alam IAS, Chief Secretary, Government of Nagaland (all pictured below).

On day 2, following a Young Writers Interactive Roundtable session with authors Dr. Easterine Kire (below front right) and Dr. Avinuo Kire (below front left), the awards ceremony for the Essay Writing competition took place.  

Traditionally, Nagaland is an oral society and this competition is to encourage Nagas to write their stories and that of their communities. The written word amongst Nagas was introduced in the 1880s with the arrival of the missionaries. "Morungs", the Naga village boys’ dormitory which kept the oral traditions alive with the narration of folklore and folk music, were replaced with classrooms.

Nagas learnt to read and write several generations ago, but it is only recently that the transition of a community that preserved its history through an oral tradition has begun to record the same in letters.

The Essay Writing Contest hopes to encourage this journey for Nagas to introspect and weave together the past and future in the present with words.

In 2021 we received 72 entries across both topics: Influence of Social Media on Naga Youth and Affinity of Naga Youth with Land, Water, Forests and Wildlife. There were two age categories: under 16 years and 16 plus.

Verbavolant, scriptamanent" a Latin proverb meaning "spoken words fly away, written words remain" which captures perfectly the essence of the essay writing competition.