Mubashira Patel, a 26-year-old student of Sociology at Mumbai University, is the winner of the 2025 Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize. She was selected from among 126 competitors this year by the poet and founder-editor of the literary journal, Almost Island, Sharmistha Mohanty and two faculty members of the Department of English at the University of Hyderabad who constituted the jury.  Abhilipsa Sahoo has received special mention from the jury.

Mubashira, who has been writing since she was eight years old, is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Sociology and calls herself “a literature aficionado, an amateur philosopher, and a newly published poet.”  Her academic work intersects with themes of marginal voices and cultural memory. Her writing often emerges alongside this inquiry, shaped by lyric form and a drive toward emotional excavation. Among her other passions are fanfiction and anime.

Ajay Kumar, a 23-year old student of English Literature, is the winner of the 2024 Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize. He was selected from among 66 competitors this year by the Mumbai-based poet, Menka Shivdasani and two faculty members of the Department of English at the University of Hyderabad who constituted the jury. Neethu Krishnan, Aparna Chivukula, and Nikita Parikh have been shortlisted and received special mention from the jury.

Nikita Deshpande, a Mumbai-based writer, has emerged as the winner of the 15th Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize. She has been selected from a pool of about 120 entries for this year’s prize by a jury consisting of poet, Sridala Swami and two faculty members of the Department of English, University of Hyderabad. The Srinivas Rayaprol Literary Trust also announced the name of Shalim Hussain of Assam as being on the prize shortlist this year.