Kozhikode: When Mathrubhumi Weekly Vishu Edition literary competition resumed after 15 years, the short story award was bagged by Rahul Manappatt, an MA Malayalam student of Kozhikode Government Arts College. His story titled Irachikkombu' was selected for the award that includes a cash prize of Rs 25,000.

The second prize worth Rs 15,000 was won by R. Shyam Krishnan for his story 'Meeshakkallan'. He is a PG student of Biochemistry at Bhubaneswar AIIMS in Odisha. The third prize worth Rs 10,000 was bagged by Amal Surendran for the story 'Charasandhi'. He is an MA Malayalam student of Kuravilangadu Devamatha College.

A jury including writers Sara Joseph, K. P. Ramanunni and E. P. Rajagopalan announced the prize winners. They evaluated that the selected stories were creative and linguistically beautiful.

In the category of poetry, no entries won the first, second and third prizes. But three poems were selected for complimentary prizes worth Rs 5,000 each. 'Ottavettinu Thirakal Neekkiya Kadal' by Drupad Goutham, an MSc Chemistry student of Tamil Nadu Central University, 'Kuzhalkkinar' by V. M. Suvin, a student of Mysore Regional Institute of Education, and 'Achante Alamara' by Ganesh Puthoor, an MA History student of Hyderabad University were selected for the complimentary prizes.

A jury including writers Kalpetta Narayanan, Rafeeq Ahmed and Sajay K. V. announced the winners in the poetry category. The jury opined that the entries sent for the award did not maintain a uniqueness in language and only followed the conventional trends in Malayalam poetry.

The result of the competition and prize winning entries will be published in the Vishu Special edition of Mathrubhumi weekly which is to be out on April 14. Renowned writer M. T. Vasudevan Nair is the guest editor of the Vishu edition. The date of award distribution will be announced later.