2,500+ schools joined the select-school opening phase of NYAF 2026–27, reinforcing a growing movement to make authorship a meaningful part of school education.
New Delhi [India], October 13: The National Young Authors’ Fair (NYAF) has entered its 5th Edition in India, bringing school students in Grades 3–12 into an end-to-end journey that takes them from an original idea to a completed and published book. In the recently concluded Early Access phase, which was opened to a select set of schools, more than 2,500 schools and 2.5 lakh students registered for the 2026–27 edition.
With Priority Registration now underway, NYAF is opening the next phase of participation to schools across the country. Co-presented by BriBooks and EducationWorld, NYAF has grown beyond the conventional model of a writing competition. Its central proposition is simple: a child should not only write a story, but experience what it means to become an author.
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Students begin with an idea, develop their story, write and complete their manuscript, and then publish it as a book carrying their own name. The emphasis is deliberately placed on the finished work rather than simply submitting an entry for judging.
The programme uses technology and AI-assisted support to help students overcome common barriers such as the blank page, structuring a story, and refining language. The intent is not to replace the child’s creativity, but to support it.
“The most important moment is not when a child wins an award. It is when a child looks at a finished book with their own name on it and realizes, ‘I created this.’ That experience can change the way a young person sees their own ideas and their own potential,” said Ami Dror, Founder & President, National Young Authors’ Fair and BriBooks, and author of Raising Future Innovators. “As NYAF enters its fifth India edition, our ambition is to make that experience possible for many more children.”
Participation in NYAF India is free for schools and students, while BriBooks provides the technology and publishing infrastructure supporting the journey.
The Real Measure of Success: What Happens After the Book
For NYAF, publishing is not the end of the journey. It is the beginning of a young author’s relationship with readers, recognition, and the wider literary ecosystem. Students can pursue two distinct recognition pathways: Jury Choice, which celebrates creativity, originality, storytelling, and literary merit; and Best-Seller, which recognizes young authors who succeed in building readership for their work.
The Fair’s wider ecosystem also creates opportunities for selected authors to receive national media visibility and participate in literary and publishing initiatives connected with NYAF. The longer-term journeys of previous young authors demonstrate the potential of this platform.
Keya Hatkar, a former NYAF Best-Selling Author, went on to receive the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2024 for excellence in art and culture. Government of India records identify Hatkar as a young author of Dancing on My Wheels and I M Possible. Her own awards record also documents her NYAF Best-Selling Author recognitions for both books.
Other NYAF alumni have continued to build recognition beyond the Fair. Kshipra Moreker, a former NYAF chart-topper, is a Golden Book Award winner for Gene Surgery and has continued to publish and build a broader body of literary and academic work.
These journeys point to an important shift: student authorship can become more than a school activity when children are given the opportunity to create something real, complete it, and put it into the world.
Building Schools That Create Authors
The 5th Edition also places greater emphasis on the role of schools. NYAF recognizes schools through the School of Creative & Literary Excellence Award, with recognition progressing across City, State, National, and South Asia levels based on the number of students who successfully complete and publish their books.
The philosophy is straightforward: a school should not be recognized merely for sending students to a competition, but for creating an environment in which a significant number of children discover the confidence to write, create, and become published authors.
“The opportunity before Indian schools is much bigger than running another extracurricular activity,” said Rahul Ranjan, Co-Founder & CEO, BriBooks. “We want schools to create a culture in which writing, creativity, and communication become part of everyday learning. The 5th Edition is about making the journey from an idea to a completed and published book simple enough for a child to undertake and meaningful enough for the school to celebrate.”
Bhavin Shah, CEO, EducationWorld, added, “Schools are where children first discover whether their ideas are worth sharing. NYAF gives educators a structured way to encourage that confidence while giving students a tangible outcome they can be proud of — a book they have created themselves.”
A Global Movement, with India at Its Heart
NYAF is not a new global initiative being introduced to India. The India edition is part of an established international young-authors movement, with the wider NYAF ecosystem spanning markets including the USA, UK, Canada, UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia.
BriBooks reported that its platform had inspired more than 1.4 million students across 32+ countries by its National Awards & Exhibition held in New Delhi in March 2026.
The 5th India Edition therefore represents another major chapter in an already established movement — one in which the central idea remains consistent across countries: give children the opportunity to create, publish, and be heard.
Why Authorship Matters Now
At a time when schools are rapidly adapting to a world shaped by AI, the question is no longer simply whether children will use technology to create. It is whether technology will help children create more independently, express their own ideas more confidently, and develop the ability to communicate something that is genuinely theirs.
NYAF places the child at the centre of that equation. AI can help with the process. Technology can remove friction. Publishing infrastructure can make the outcome possible. But the idea, the imagination, and the voice still belong to the young author.
That is the larger promise of NYAF’s 5th Edition in India. One idea. One book. One young author at a time.
