Belles-Lettres Essay Competition 2025 by GLC, Mumbai [Cash Prizes Rs 22K]: Register by Oct 24

About the Organisers

The competition is organised by the Magazine Committee of GLC, a long-standing and prevailing committee with a legacy of 95 years. The Committee has been a perennial forum of cultural and intellectual discussions and garners active participation from students and its innumerable legal luminaries and stalwarts. GLC’s annual magazine, méLAWnge, bolsters support from the President of India to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Bombay High Court. Beyond the Magazine, this student-run endeavor also hosts three annual essay competitions that receive entries from degree colleges across the country.

About The Patron

The late Mr. Jal E. Dastur, in whose memory this competition is being sponsored, was a practicing Chartered Accountant and a member of both the English and the Indian institutes. He was the sole proprietor of the firm M/s. E. J. Dastur & Co., a firm founded by his father, Late Mr. Erach J. Dastur and himself. He was an alumnus of Government Law College, Mumbai and graduated with distinction there from over sixty years ago. He won several debating and elocution competitions at the city, state and national levels. He contributed countless papers at various seminars and addressed innumerable conferences, held nationally and internationally, on subjects of accountancy and law.

He also co-authored a series of books on Direct Tax Laws. He was a perfectionist in all that he undertook and embodied all the qualities of a true and fearless professional. A little known fact about him is that he was a man who loved literature and was a master of the linguistic art. This competition is one which would have been after his heart and had he been a student today, he would have loved to participate in it.

About the Opportunity

Government Law College, Mumbai presents its annual short-essay fiction competition: Belles-Lettres Competition 2025. The event sponsored in the memory of the late Mr Jal E. Dastur, one of GLC’s most distinguished alumni reflects his passion for literary fiction and invites students from across India to share their storytelling & creative writing skills.

This annual event offers an opportunity to all the eligible and aspiring writers to submit their short-fiction entries on a national platform and get evaluated by some of the most distinguished authors. In previous editions, the final rounds of this Competition have been judged by literary icons such as Mr. Jeffery Archer and Ms. Anita Nair.

Eligibility

• Participants must have passed their HSC/CBSE/ISC (10+2) or any other equivalent examination.
• They must presently be enrolled in a graduation course in any field.
• Postgraduate (Diploma) course students are eligible to participate.
• Only single authorship is permitted. Co-authored entries will not be accepted.
• Postgraduate (Degree) course students are not eligible.
• The decision of the organising committee as to eligibility shall be final and binding.

Topic for this year

• Start your story with the following sentence: “I look over the heads of the kids in front of me into the hall beyond the door. I don’t like what I see…”
• Incorporate the following objects in your story: Windchime | Bullet | Lighthouse
• Build your story around the following characters: Andy Bryon, Kim Jong Un and Sabrina Carpenter in a zombie apocalypse.
• Build your story around an image (Refer page 5 of the brochure).

Registration Fee and Prizes

This is a competition free for all eligible students.

Click Here to Register.

The Prizes for the Competition are:

1. Winner: Rs. 10,000/-
2. Runner-Up: Rs. 7,000/-
3. Second Runner-Up: Rs. 5,000/-

Important dates

Registration Deadline: 24th October, 2025

Submission Deadline: 7th November, 2025.

Submission Guidelines

• Language: English
• Word limit: Minimum 1500 & Maximum 3500 wordsMarks will be deducted for violation of the word limit.
• Formatting requirements:
• Font type – Times New Roman | Font size – 12 | Line spacing – 1.5 One inch margin on each side | Alignment – Justified
• The identity of the student or the college, university, institution, etc. should not be revealed in the text of the essay in any manner whatsoever. If such details are found, the submission will be rejected and disqualified.
• Submissions must be original and unpublished works of the author.Plagiarism will result in automatic disqualification.The use of artificial intelligence to write or rephrase words will result in disqualification.
• Title of the submission document must be the author’s allotted team code.

Competition Rules

• All submissions will undergo strict online plagiarism checks.
• Special consideration will be placed upon the use of the topic, originality, language, plot of story.In case of any dispute, the decision of the professor in-charge and student editors will be final.
• It is the responsibility of each participant to ensure that the“.doc”/”.docx” file of the submission can be opened legibly with Google Docs/Microsoft Word.In addition to the word document, participants are also required to submit their entries in pdf format.Team Code for submission will be sent after the registration deadline elapses.
• Kindly do not contact the organising committee regarding the team code before then.Submission of the essays will take place via the following google form.     
• This is Submission LinkEach participant is permitted to submit only one entry.No queries regarding the announcement of results shall be entertained.The identity of the student or the college, university, institution, etc. should not be revealed in the text of the essay in any manner whatsoever.
• Title of the submission document must be the author’s allotted team code.

Submission Rules

The entries shall be the property of the Magazine Committee, Government Law College, Mumbai, which reserves the right of publication of the same in any periodical, journal, book, electronic resource or in any other manner as it may deem appropriate.

The organising committee’s decision as regards the interpretation of rules or any other matter related to the Competition shall be final and binding.

Contact Details

For any further details or clarifications please contact:

Email us at [email protected]

Ms. Riddhi Vinherkar: +91 836 930 4895

Ms. Aabha Gawde: +91 77770 72496

The brochure is here.