ORU PAKKA KATHAI, Tamil short story competition for college students launched by Rotary as a part of Coimbatore Book Festival

ORU PAKKA KATHAI is an annual initiative by Rotary eClub of Coimbatore Changemakers in association with Arivukeni in the backdrop of Coimbatore Book Festival. It is a short story writing competition organised with twin objectives of bring out the story telling skills and Tamil writing skills of college students. The event started in 2022 has crossed four successful editions inviting more than 11000 stories from as many students. This event is conducted completely in digital mode eliminating the need of papers and postage.

Rtr.Gokulakannan, DRR Elect, RI District 3203 and Rtr.Sanjay, DRR Elect, RI District 3206 jointly launched the website orupakkakathai.in. The website was launched in the presence of Rtn Vaidhyanathan, Chairman - Oru Pakka Kathai and President, Rotary eClub of Coimbatore Changemakers and Mr.C.R.Elangovan, Coordinator, Coimbatore Book Festival 2026. The launch was also attended by Mr.M.S.Vijay Arockiaraj, first prize winner of the 2023 edition. 

The students are invited to submit the story using the portal. The rules are as follows
1 The Story should be Original and should not be published elsewhere.
2 The Story should be written in Tamil and should not exceed 2 pages or 500 words.
3 The story should mandatorily have two words “Kovai” and “Puthagam” in it.
4 The story should be uploaded in PDF Format. The participants can either scan a written story in pdf format or type and save in pdf format.
5 All participating students shall be presented with a digital eCertificate. The college with maximum participants shall receive a special shield of recognition.

There is no participation fee. The first prize winner will get 3000 INR cash prize while the second prize winner will get 2000 INR and third prize winner will get 1000 INR. There will also be consolation prizes worth 500 INR for 3 more participants. All prize winners will be presented with books and certificates. The prize distribution will happen at Coimbatore Book Festival 2026. 

The portal is open from entries from 03 July 2026 and entries will be received till 18 July 2026. The prize winners will be announced on 21 July 2026 and prize distribution will take place on 23 July 2026. The Coimbatore Book Festival will happen at Codissia Trade Fair Complex from 17 July 2026 to 26 July 2026.

Kindly login to orupakkakathai.in for story submission and further details. The interested students can contact the organising team via Whatsapp at 9159993201 for further details or clarification.