Writing
Winners

Synopsis: In the village of Kovilpatti, a quirky legend claims stealing a god's statue will block the sunrise. Once famous for its divine idols, the village now has a temple dedicated to—wait for it—an alien, inspired by the movies! But when the alien statue vanishes, a perpetual pink twilight descends. Panic ensues, a village-wide hunt begins, but the culprit is Ammaamma, a sweet but heartbroken grandmother who's convinced the missing alien is actually her long-lost grandson. Get ready for cosmic confusion, grandma's love, and a hilarious clash of belief and reality.

Synopsis - In 2035, 4 super intelligent engineers plan to steal the world’s most valuable substance, The Red Matter, worth over $30 billion on the black market. It's secured in the Sistine Chapel’s vault, Vatican City. After months of planning, they break through every security layer, only to face the final challenge: the vault can only be unlocked with a chemical composition. The missing ingredient, Compound Z, was destroyed with Billionaire Samrat Kapoor in the 2008 Mumbai Taj Attacks. To complete the heist, they must travel back in time to retrieve it—but how will they return to 2035 afterward?

Synopsis - When a fight with her ex-boyfriend, Sid, escalates and she accidentally kills him, a self-righteous schoolteacher, Tani, must dispose of the body with some help. But next morning, when he wakes up VERY ALIVE, a freaked-out Tani flees to work. However, when Sid attacks her in retribution for ‘attempting to kill him’, she pushes him in front of a school bus. Only… he makes her dinner that night. When Tani fails to turn herself in to the police, she makes a spectacle of Death #3 going viral for killing on camera. Till… he returns a week later to “dump” her.

Synopsis: Taking examples from the past and present, this article arrives at the nuanced definition of originality in the context of modern developments. It discusses the double-edged impact of commercialisation and societal pressure, suffocating the masses creatively while providing opportunities for unique works to shine through. Ultimately, this piece concludes that while every word in the world has already been used before, originality stems from new arrangements.

Synopsis - Answering the question, ‘Is originality dead?’ first begs the questions, ‘What is originality?’ and ‘Was it ever alive?’. If everything is inspired or outright derived from something else, which, in turn, was itself inspired or derived then what is original? A version, cover, or even an imitation is an original as long as it brings something of the creator into it. Without this latitude of thought, it will not be possible to take something good and make it better. Literature, architecture, coding, music, art…everything abounds with such inspired originals, and the world is better for it.

Synopsis - The Ouroboros is a powerful symbol of cyclicality, of eternal return. It represents the idea that endings are just new beginnings, that creation and destruction are part of the same process.The nature of originality is like an Ouroboros representing the cyclical nature of creativity - how we draw inspiration from what exists, create something 'new', which then becomes part of what inspires future creators. It also touches on the paradox of originality - how our pursuit of the original often leads us back to the familiar, much like the serpent consuming its own tail.