Winners of the South Asian Heritage Month Competition

On August 15th, 2026, Temple Literary Magazine and The Lotus Paper announced the winners of the South Asian Heritage Month Competition (SAHM Competition).

The SAHM Competition opened for submissions on July 1st and closed submissions on July 31st. This spanned the entire month of South Asian Heritage Month, which takes place annually every July. Temple Literary Magazine and The Lotus Paper, a Desi publication that publishes art and writing by South Asian creatives, collaborated to honor this month.

The winners for the SAHM Competition are Veidika Sen and Shehrbano C. The pieces awarded were “the apple tree” and “bargaining,” respectively. Our editors at Temple Lit Mag found that Veidika’s piece shone light and awareness on a topic not often heard about outside South Asia. This topic was about the cycle of domestic violence and abuse against women that often happen in South Asia. Along with the meaningful message, Sen uses beautiful and culturally specific metaphors to ground the reader in the poem’s setting. These things stood out to Temple Lit Mag which made it one of the winning pieces.

Our editors at Temple Lit Mag also saw comfort and also relatability in Shehrbano’s piece. This piece was also about a topic not commonly talked about, but also an important element in cultures across many regions and not just in South Asia. The piece talked about the art of bargaining, and how Shehrbano saw her grandmother haggling the price of something even if she had enough money. This is a common thing people across Asia and also in different cultures do, but revolving it mainly around South Asia while using culturally specific imagery stood out to the editors and made it a winning piece.

You can read these wonderful works when Temple Lit Mag’s Issue 03 comes out on August 25th, 2026. Stay tuned to see other amazing pieces by other Asian American youth writers!