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Monday, February 20, 2017

The Salam Award for Imaginative Fiction and other related news

by Salman Hameed


There are couple of good signs about recognizing Professor Abdus Salam in Pakistan. If you are a science fiction writer, then you have an opportunity to compete for the Salam Award for Imaginative Fiction. It is the brainchild of Tehseen Baweja and Usman Malik, and you have to submit your entry by July 31, 2017. Here are the rules:
  1. Original content, must be written by you
  2. Never published before
  3. Not more than 10,000 words
  4. PDF or Word Document
  5. Submitted on or before July 31st, 2017
  6. Participants must either be currently residing in Pakistan, or be of Pakistani birth/descent
  7. Entries must be in English
  8. One story per entrant
  9. Please don’t place your name, address, or other identifiers within the body of the story. Please place those in the submission email with the story attached as .pdf or .doc
  10. Please don’t quote another author or poet whose work is not in the public domain unless you have explicit permission from said author or poet.
If your story gets recognized by the judges, you will get: 
  1. A cash prize of Rs 50,000
  2. Review by an established literary agent for market guidance and possible representation
  3. An editorial review by a professional editor for critique and potential publication in a multi-award winning science fiction magazine
There are two other significant Salam related developments. In December, the government decided to rename the National Centre for Physics at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad after the Noble Laureate. Underscoring their consistently regressive agenda, the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) predictably opposed this move. 

Second, this summer, we hope to the release of a documentary about Professor Abdus Salam. I have covered its production several times here on Irtiqa. The films looks awesome. It is a such a delight to see this result of pure ambition and passion of its producers, Zakir Thaver and Omar Vandal. And of course, all the others supporting the project. 
More on the film as time comes closer to its release. In the mean time, here is the latest trailer:

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