Writer Dipesh Risal has won the Writing Nepal 2017, a short story contest organised by the literary magazine La.lit. Risal won the award for his story The Almost Enlightenment of Prince Trailokya. Sujana Upadhyay won the second place for her story Heart of Gold, while Byanjana Thapa and Shristy Uprety jointly claimed the third place for their stories To Drown and Brown Bird, respectively. 

Risal is a California-based Nepali writer who specialises in historical fiction. 

The winners, picked out of a shortlist of six contenders, were announced amid a function held at Yellow House, in Sanepa, Lalitpur. US-based Nepali author Samrat Upadhyay, who was also the sole judge of the contest, announced the winners. 

Among the other writers shortlisted were Abhisek Parajuli (Thakur Dai) and Sarahana Shrestha (The Ghosts of Meena Agrawal). 

The first-placed entry won Rs 12000; the second-placed entry won Rs 6000; and the third-placed prize money was divided between the two winners. 

The event also saw author Upadhyay read an excerpt from his new book Mad Country, a collection of short stories. 

Editors at the magazine said that the winning entries will be published in its website (lalitmag.com) in coming days. This was the third iteration of the biennial short story competition.