A USD 50,000 international prize for South Asian fiction writing was announced today by DSC, the main sponsor of Jaipur Literature festival.

The infrastructure firm said on the closing day of the festival that they will give away the 'DSC Prize for South Asian Literature' every year.

"We have had an association with literature for many years and we believe we are taking it forward. There is nothing like this yet on this scale. You have a lot of prizes but none of them is focused on the region. I hope this will encourage people to write on the region," Manhad Narula, Director, DSC said.

The award will be only for fiction books, he added.

A ten-member advisory committee that includes prominent personalities like Nayantara Sehgal (writer), Lord Meghnad Desai (British MP), Tina Brown (journalist), Urvashi Butalia (historian) will be constituted which will establish a five-member jury to decide the winner.

"The publishers can submit their nominations based on which the jury will arrive at a long list by October-November and then finalise a short list," Narula added.

The first prize will be announced in the literature festival next year.

200 writers including the likes of Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, British author Hanif Kureishi, Roberto Colasso and Geoff Dyer descended for one of Asia's biggest literary five-day fest.