The Jhalak Prize was launched in 2016 and was created by writers Sunny Singh, Nikesh Shukla, and Media Diversified.
It is supported by The Authors’ Club and by The Jhalak Foundation,[1] owned by Professor Singh's family.
[2] It is the second literary prize in the UK to only accept entries by writers of colour, following the SI Leeds Literary Prize for BAME women writers, which was first awarded in 2012.
[5] Consequentially, the prize was reported to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
In 2020, a sister award, the Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize, was founded.