Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 4 (IANS) Emerging writer Ashwin Sanghi has won the Vodafone Crossword Book Award 2010 in the popular fiction category for ?Chanakya’s Chant?.

The award, decided by readers’ votes online, went to the contemporary political drama for logging the highest sales in 2010.

Sanghi, who also wrote the bestselling “The Rozbal Line”, was given the prize in Mumbai Saturday, a statement issued by the Vodafone-Crossword Book Awards said Sunday.

The award for the fiction category was shared by Omair Ahmed for “Jimmy The Terrorist” and Anjali Joseph for “Saraswati Park”.

V.S. Ramachandran won the award in the non-fiction category for “The Tell Tale Brain”, while Ranjit Lal won the award for the best childern’s book, “Faces in the Water”.

In the translation category, N.S. Madhavan and Rajesh Rajmohan were awarded for “Litanies of Dutch Battery”, translated from Malayalam.

Speaking on the occasion, chief executive officer of Crossword Bookstores Chandrashekhar Navalkar said: ?Vodafone Crossword Book Award has come a long way since its inception. With five award categories and more than 300 entries, it is now one of the most respected literary awards in the country.”

Kumar Ramanathan, chief marketing officer of Vodafone, said: ?It is the only Indian award that not only recognises and rewards good writing but also actively promotes the authors and their books.”