Online Publication of Winning Entries
Preface of Jasmina Awards 2020 Publication
"Tucked deep inside all of us are our memories; snapshots of unforgettable moments, frozen in time, played by ageless actors, these emotions retain their power, despite the years, to move us.
Once in a while, we take these memories out, dust them off and peer at them, perhaps even introduce a bias or a tint, smile and maybe tear or wince a little, and then relegate it back into the recesses of our minds.
It takes courage and strength of character to share these stories with the world, to have enough imagination to be able to capture the nuanced drama of the story, to sprinkle and infuse words and phrases with enough meaning that the heart is stirred.
It has truly been a privilege to be allowed to peek into the rich lives of our writers, to share in memories and observations which have so much capacity to generate empathy and connection.
There are many big-hearted individuals who have helped us make this such an unexpected success and we are deeply grateful to all of them. We would especially like to thank Liow Moi Lee, who helped with proofreading and editing of 6 winning entries, all jury members as well as our hard working volunteer Mabel.
We have a special mention to make: of a compassionate and generous philanthropist who has been supporting the Jasmina Awards since its first year. YBhg. Tan Sri Vincent Tan spontaneously offered to host all prize winners at his luxury hotel, Le Chateau at Berjaya Hills, nestled amongst the hills and rainforests, less than an hour out of Kuala Lumpur.
It was an unexpected treat for the prize winners and their significant other, a rare pleasure of being able to relax and enjoy the company of like-minded strangers, to just pause and delight in beautiful environs. We are very appreciative of this generous offer.
Thank you all for the honour of being part of this journey of telling the stories that matter."
Sunita Rajakumar and Dr Jasmina Kuka
Click HERE to view or download the online publication
Jasmina Awards 2020 Results
Congratulations to all, and also a big thank you to all who participated!
Micro Story
First prize: SH Lim (Mirror Image)
Second prize: Renuka a/p Kishinchand Khemlani (A Journey of Strength)
Third prize: Raymund Jagan ( A Personal Journey)
Photo Story
First prize: Kalaverny Rasiah (The Hand)
Second prize: Sheela Kanagasabai (A Bowl of Tasteful Memories)
Third prize: Chan Thien Fu (The Malay Girl - Miss Lim)
Short Story
First prize: Rajes Seeny (The Journey)
Second prize: Mary Lazarus Gill (The White Shirt)
Third prize: Yuvaraj Narasimharaj (A Selfie with My Lady)
Special recognition: Helen Gray (The One)
Poem
First prize: Dina Fuad (Nameless)
Second prize: SH Lim (My Mother’s Song Colours On)
Third prize: Cheah Sin Chye (My Journey Home)
Malay Entries
Poem: Laili Ismail (Form 1C)
Short Story: Hishamuddin Rais (Kita Berjalan Bukan Untuk Sampai)
This year's entries...
We are have received a total of 110 entries.
The judges will announce the winners on 3rd August 2020.
The Jasmina Awards ceremony will be held on 16th September 2020, venue is to be confirmed.
Short Story
44 entries were received
Micro Story
22 entries were received
Photo Story
17 entries were received
Poem
28 entries were received
Welcome to
Jasmina Awards 2020
If you are 60 and above, we would love to hear from you. The aim of Jasmina Awards is to promote active aging by encouraging older adults to write about their thoughts, experiences, memories, hopes and dreams.
The overarching theme of the Jasmina Awards 2020 is Journey. It can be about your life journey, travel journey, emotional journey, imaginary journey – anything that encompasses authentic stories, feelings, experiences that carry your voices, needs, yearning, dreams, hopes and loves.
Travel stories can be as simple as walking down your street and remembering events from the past or it can cover experiences from visiting different countries and continents. Life stories can be about yours or someone else’s personal life or it can be a dream about life that you wish to have.
Jasmina Awards appreciates literary excellence but our main aim is to promote active aging by supporting your originality and your proactiveness in writing and sharing.
All works submitted to the Jasmina Awards belong to the authors and this includes all copy rights. We just want to publicize, reward and share your stories.
More information about last year's Jasmina Awards winners, their entries, the Jasmina Awards publication and time spent together could be found here.
Jasmina Awards is here to honour your life experiences as an integral part of our society by immortalizing them through your words.
JOM. Let’s get started. We cannot wait to hear from you.
an image for extra engagement.
Jasmina Awards 2020 Rules
Overarching theme is Journey.
Jasmina Awards 2020 categories are:
Micro story – it is a story up to 150 words. This is demanding and exciting category that invites you to wisely choose your words while telling your authentic journey story.
Photo story – this is imaginary category. Please present the photo at the beginning of your story and in up to 1000 words take us to the journey behind the photo.
Short story – it is a story up to 2500 words. This is inspiring category that allows you to deep dive into your experiences, describe them generously and share them with us.
Poem – it can be rhythmic, or metric or haiku or free verse – anything you wish. The only important thing is that it shares your ideas, emotions and imagery through journey.
Eligible participants are all people living in Malaysia that are 60 years young and above. Authors could be Malaysian citizens but as well refugees, immigrants and stateless living in Malaysia.
Once you finish your story/poem, at the bottom of the page please provide the following information:
- category you are submitting in
- your name
- age
- email address and contact number
- city/village you come from.
Please submit your entries in Word document to following email address: jasmina@diversecity.my
If story/poem is handwritten, please scan the document and send it to the above email address.
Deadline for submission of your entries is 8 June 2020.
Results of the Jasmina Awards 2020 competition will be announced in August.
Award giving ceremony will be organised on 16 September 2020.
Jury members
Saras Manickam
Saras Manickam is a short story writer whose work has appeared in various anthologies in Malaysia. She was the winner of the DK Dutt Award for Literary Excellence in 2017. In 2019, her story was the regional winner for Asia in the Commonwealth short story contest which attracted over 5000 entries from all over the world.
Sarah Abedi
Sarah Abedi had contributed to the editorial work of MELTA publications. She had written and presented papers at local and international ELT conferences and workshops on subjects like academic writing, MUET and IELTS preparation strategies and e-learning.
As a life member of U3Age, she values life-long learning and appreciates the opportunities to extend her skills as and when time permits. In 2019, her poem “Moving on” won Third Prize in the My Malaysian Poem category for the Jasmina Awards.
Dato Muslim Ayob
Dato Muslim is the Editor of The Senior, a lifestyle magazine for third-agers ie retirees, veterans and generally those who are above the age of 60. He was the webmaster of his Rotary Club and editor of the “Berita Pudu” its online weekly newsletter. He is also currently active in editing articles from fellow officers that served with him in the early years of the Royal Malaysian Air Force in an effort to produce a book aptly called “Born in Hard Times.” His passion is travelling – not the usual common-or-garden variety – but overland 4x4 off-road.
Imran Ahmad
Apart from having several blue suits and a corporate day job, Imran Ahmad is also an almost-but-not-quite famous writer. His first book, The Perfect Gentleman, has been praised by many newspapers as well as O, The Oprah Magazine, and has propelled him to many appearances on television and at literary festivals including Edinburgh, Sydney, Bali, Perth, Byron Bay, Dubai and Chicago. He currently lives in Kuala Lumpur.
Jasmina Kuka
Jasmina is co-founder of the Jasmina Awards that aims to promote active aging through writing. She published numerous academic papers, articles for newspapers and magazines and Fast When Walking Uphill - travel journey of the women (herself) who travels the world on her own. She has been living and working in Malaysia for 5.5 years and she calls our beautiful country her home.
Get in Touch
If you have any questions about the event or general inquires, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
"I wish you to be fast when walking uphill."
Dr Jasmina Kuka
FAQ
My mother is 90 years old with many stories in her, could I help her write?
We prefer the contributor to write personally but we do recognise some elderly can't physically do that. Someone else could technically (recording, writing) capture their story and submit on their behalf. In this case, the elderly person is the author and the other person just provided technical assistance.
The elderly writer will have difficulty reading out her creative work, does she still need to attend the Jasmina Awards ceremony if short-listed?
We welcome everyone to the Jasmina Awards ceremony and hope the short-listed writers can read out their work but of course, recognise that some might only be able to attend and not be able to read it out in public. In which case, the writer could nominate someone else to read an excerpt of their short-listed work out on their behalf.
Do all of us have to attend the awards ceremony to find out who's been short-listed?
Short-listed writers will be informed before the event - good luck to every single one of you!
Can someone who is younger than 60 years old write a story about her parents?
We will certainly consider this additional category for next year! but this year, we'd really like to focus on original writings from those aged 60 years and above.
If I'm shortlisted but don't win, do I still have right over my creative work?
It's important you retain your creative rights over your own original work. We will only ask for consent to print winning works.
I have so many stories I want to share! is there any limit to the number of submission?
Please submit as many as you like!