After the sad demise of Meghna Mahapatra, daughter of Santosh and Lipika Mahapatra, in a tragic road accident on 5th November 2005, members of the Michigan Chapter of the Orissa Society of the Americas have set up the Meghna Memorial Fund, managed by the Meghna Memorial Trust. This was made possible through generous contributions from many people, including Meghna‘s parents. To commemorate Meghna and pay tribute to her creative spirit, it was deemed appropriate to institute the Meghna Memorial Award for Creative Writing‖. The Meghna Memorial Award was started in 2007.

1. Guidelines: Entries may be submitted by OSA member children in two age categories:

• Junior Award is for Children of ages between 7 and 12
• Senior award is for children of ages between 13 and 18

2. Criteria for Recognition: The written materials submitted by the children in both the junior and senior age groups will be judged for exceptional creativity and quality of writing by the most competent panel of judges.
3. The formats and styles are wide open. Examples are poems, short stories, letters home from a trip, or just the child/youth‘s view of the adult world.
4. Both Odia and English writings are welcome. English articles should be in word document format using Arial font, font size 12, single spaced, no page numbers and maximum length of 4 pages with 1 inch margin on all four sides. Odia articles should be typed in Odiphon, or Aprant or using the Google Unicode software at https://www.google.com/inputtools/try/ (choose the language Oriya). If you type in any other Odia software, you can convert to Unicode using https://goo.gl/KzQFaW. Finally, please compose your write-up in MS word and upload. Make sure to review spelling and grammar check before submission.

5. Eligibility Requirements: All children of Odia origin residing in North America (USA and Canada) in the age group of 7 to 18 are eligible to participate. The parents or children need not be members of OSA at the time of nomination.
6.  The winner in each group will be recognized at the OSA 56th Convention, receive a certificate, a check for $150 and a copy of the Souvenir issue in which his/her article is published.
7. Nomination Process: Writings can be sent in by either children or their parents. Please note that all articles submitted to the Souvenir by the youth members will automatically be considered for the award and you don’t have to submit again separately for the Meghna Memorial award.
8. Each write up should be accompanied by the author’s photograph and full postal address. No other description is required.

9. File Naming should be adhering to the following convention: FirstnameLastname_ArticleTitleShort_LanguageType_Meghna_OSA2025.doc
   Example: JohnDoe_OdishaTemples_EnglishEssay_Meghna_OSA2025.doc

10. Author Details: Each write up/ art should be accompanied by

• Name and School Grade
• Age
• Photograph
• Hobbies, Passions and Future Goals
• Parent’s Name(s)
• Postal address – City, State and Country – State only to be published (for security)
• e-mail ID (not published – confidential to editors)
• Phone number (not published – confidential to editors)

11. Odia articles should be typed in Odiphon, or Aprant or using the Google Unicode software at https://www.google.com/inputtools/try/ (choose the language Oriya).If you type in any other Odia software, you can convert to Unicode  using https://goo.gl/KzQFaW.
    Then please compose your write-up in MS word and upload. Make sure to spell check before sending.

12. Last date for submission: April 28th, 2025 (Monday). This deadline is Final, and no extension will be made. Please prepare your articles early and submit before the deadline.

13. Note: If you send an article and do not receive acknowledgement within 3 days, please send a query to the editorial team at https://osa2025.osaconventions.org/contact-us/contact-souvenir-team/