The Daily Beast and the Open Hands Initiative announce a new prize for South Asian journalists and writers covering the region to celebrate and nurture raw talent and find fresh voices. The aim of this prize is to promote and support the work of an individual who has contributed thoughtful, important, and engaging commentary on the great social, political, and cultural issues of their region.

"From two years attending the Jaipur Literature Festival, I became more and more aware of the brilliant literary and journalistic voices that exist in South Asia. At The Daily Beast, we are eager to provide a platform for the best new voices from the region writing about political affairs, literature, and culture. We are hoping that this $25,000 award we have created in conjunction with the Open Hands Initiative for the best commentary from South Asia will bring more terrific journalists and critics from the region to American awareness," says Tina Brown.

Prize: The winner will receive a $25,000 cash prize, a one-month residency at the Norman Mailer Center and Writers Colony in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and a biweekly column for a year on The Daily Beast. The two finalists will also be invited to contribute commentary to The Daily Beast.

Structure: Editors and publishers across South Asia will be asked to nominate their best English-language columnists and writers by sending us three to five examples of their work and writing a brief letter explaining why that particular individual deserves this recognition. Our panel of prominent international journalists and writers will read the submissions to select one winner and two finalists. To submit a nomination, please email commentaryprize@thedailybeast.com.

Eligibility: Any nominated columnist, journalist, or writer based in and writing about South Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh) is eligible for the prize. Only commentary written between October 1, 2009, and October 1, 2010, will be considered eligible for the prize.

Judges: The panel of judges will be announced soon.

Timing: The prize will be awarded at the Jaipur Literature Festival in January 2011. Finalists will be announced in December. All nominations must be submitted by October 1, 2010.

The Open Hands Initiative is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization dedicated to improving people-to-people understanding and friendship throughout the world through exchanges and other projects that emphasize our basic shared values and common humanity. It specializes in diplomacy that is by and for ordinary people, emphasizing dialogue and mutual respect between the people of the United States and the rest of the world.

The Norman Mailer Center and Writers Colony's mission is to nurture future generations of writers in honor of Mailer's contributions to American culture and letters. The Center offers fellowships, workshops, seminars, readings, and a travel study program for Asian writers, scholars and students, that journeys across the United States, tracing the footsteps of America's literary giants by studying the society and settings that gave life to their literary works.