By Akshita Nanda

FROM 5am to 8pm most days, Mr Govindarajan Elangovan, 36, whips up pratas and curries at his food stall. Sundays though are for poetry.

That is when his stall in Bukit Batok Crescent is closed and he can write.

It is hard going, but the father of two's perseverance has paid off. He won second prize for Tamil poetry at the Singapore Press Holdings-National Arts Council Golden Point Award competition.

Twenty-three authors from all walks of life were feted at a ceremony at The Arts House Friday for their winning entries in the biennial writing contest.

Selected from 453 competitors, they included teachers, professionals and a polytechnic student, who at 17 was the youngest-ever winner since the award's inception in 1993.

Of the seven first prize winners, two are immigrants, now permanent residents here. Ms Perinbam Vasudevan, 35, from India, took the honours for the Tamil short story category, while Mr Li Qingsong, 32, from China, won the top award for Chinese prose.

Guest-of-honour at the event, Mr Zaqy Mohamad, a Member of Parliament for Hong Kah GRC, applauded the authors while noting that literature and literacy are under attack from new methods of communication such as text messaging.

'We have to advocate to our young that they speak proper English,' he said.

The Golden Point Award is co-organised by the arts council and The Arts House, and sponsored by SPH and the SPH Foundation. It is the only national writing competition with prizes for all four official languages - Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil.

Prizes are awarded for two categories in each language: prose and poetry. First-prize winners get $4,000 cash and a $6,000 enrichment grant that can be used to attend writing workshops. Those who come in second get $3,000 cash, and there is also a $2,000 third prize.

The top award for Malay poetry went to Muhammad Khairool Haque Abdul Kadir, 17, the youngest prize winner. The Ngee Ann Polytechnic student started writing two years ago. Like others who took first prizes this year, recognition from local newspapers encouraged him to keep writing. His poems have appeared in Berita Harian since 2007.

Similarly, Chinese teacher Chow Teck Seng, 35, who won first prize for Chinese poetry, has seen his poems printed in Lianhe Zaobao. The Chinese newspaper's literature section 'has nurtured a lot of Chinese writers', he said.

No first prize was awarded this year for the category of Tamil poetry, on the recommendation of the judges. Mr K.T.M. Iqbal, a veteran poet on the judging panel, said writers have not yet reached the expected standard. 'It may take some time, as in any field,' he said.

However, second prize was honour enough for Mr Elangovan. The engineering diploma holder from Tamil Nadu came to Singapore in 1999 to work for a mattress firm. Now a permanent resident here, he left the firm after 7-1/2 years to start an Indian food stall in the hopes that it would help him open a restaurant.

Most of his poems are on current affairs, but his winning entry was an ode to the dawn, which he sent in after gaining his wife's approval. 'She is always the first to comment and if she's okay with it, then I think it's okay,' he said.

Mr Elangovan hopes to publish a book of his poems. The award has given him hope. 'It encourages me to prove myself further,' he said.

Winners of SPH-NAC Golden Point Award

SHORT STORY

Chinese category

First: Li Qingsong

Second: Ang Li Wei

Third: Wang Zhenye

English category

First: Jeremy Jeyam Samuel

Second: Lee Yew Leong

Third: Ho Lin Lee

Malay category

First: Yazid Hussein

Second: Muhammad Jailani Abu Taib

Third: Roslie Buang Sidik

Tamil category

First: Perinbam Vasudevan

Second: Ismail Meera Syed Sulaiman

Third: Subramaniam Arjunan

POEM

Chinese category

First: Chow Teck Seng

Second: Lee Yit Seong

Third: Lee Chee Keng

English category

First: Eric Low Soon Liang

Second: Koh Xin Tian

Third: Liew Wai Yee Janet

Malay category

First: Muhammad Khairool Haque Abdul Kadir

Second: Hamed Ismail

Third: Muhamad Rafi Abu Bakar

Tamil category

No first prize awarded

Second: Govindarajan Elangovan

Third: Rajendran Neethipandi

This article was first published in The Straits Times.