Countdown to Tejas ’25 Kickoff
Competition launches:
Cohort 2 & 3 – Feb 21 @ 6 pm PST
(Cohort 1 launched)
Tejas '25
Glimpses from Tejas ’25 Competition currently underway.
Missed out on Tejas ’25? Don’t worry. Stay tuned for Tejas '26 news.
What is Tejas?
Tejas is a unique book competition for 14-40 year-olds in the U.S., where your love for reading unlocks incredible rewards. Develop an Indic lens on life, career, and society while exploring ancient wisdom to tackle modern challenges.
Now inviting you to participate in Tejas 2025.
Why participate?
- Broaden your perspectives and deepen your understanding of the world
- Huge cash awards
- Opportunity to collaborate with bestselling authors on types on projects shown below
Who is Tejas for?
Cohort 1:
14 – 18 year olds
- Spruce up your resume with a portfolio showcasing your creative expression
- Stand out in your college applications
- Get 80 volunteer hours on completing the qualifying round
Cohort 2:
19 – 29 year olds
- Broaden your horizons with insights that go beyond Western perspectives
- Harness timeless Indian wisdom to understand how to build and sustain relationships
- Strengthen your roots
Cohort 3:
30 – 40 year olds
- Learn to apply ancient wisdom in career as done by many of our top Indian origin CEOs
- Embrace and rediscover your Indian identity as narratives evolve
- Reconnect with your creative self
Shortlist of participanting authors
How does the Tejas competition work?
Register
Register in your division:
Division 1: 14 – 18 years
Division 2: 19 – 29 years
Division 3: 30 – 40 years
Registration fee: $99 per person
Team Size 1 / 2 / 3
Compete solo or find partners, have them register and then form a team. Need help finding teammates? No worries! We can help.
Portal Access
Shortly after registration, you get access to the competition portal where all information is shared. The portal also has a mobile app.
Procure books
The competition is kicked off with unveiling of books on Jan 25, 2025.
Procure books from Amazon or our publishing partner. You get 4 weeks to read 4 small books.
Author sessions
Live author sessions are conducted weekly to offer participants an opportunity to interact with and ask questions to the author directly.
Expert sessions
Live expert sessions will be conducted to guide participants on creating podcasts and youtube shorts, producing, or creating a meme.
Challenges
Starting March, a challenge is due every 2 weeks. Challenge prompts are announced 10 days before the due date. Estimated time per challenge is 5-7 hours.
Finalists announced
Finalists are announced by end of May. 5 teams from each cohort will get to compete in Tejas 2025 finale, held on June 14-15 in Georgia Tech, Atlanta.
What’s the commitment and deliverables?
As with any competition, the amount of time you spend really depends on you.
Books will be under 400 pages, easy reads, requiring no more than 10 hours for average reading speed.
Expect to spend 5-7 hours producing a high quality deliverable.
Read assigned Indic books
Read 4 books (cohorts 1 & 2) and 2 books (cohort 3). Books are thoughtfully curated to help you develop an Indic perspective on all aspects of life. Books are –
- Age appropriate
- Enjoyable reads
- Fiction and non-fiction
- Under 400 pages
- Under 10 hours of reading time
- With valuable takeaways
- Perspective building
- In English language
- Available on Amazon or though our publishing partner
6 qualifying challenges
[Cohorts 1 & 2]
- Each challenge requires 5-7 hours of work
- Challenges are due every 2 weeks from February to April 2025
- Top performers advance to the finals
- Awards for individual challenge toppers
Cohort 3 [30-40 yo]
Only 2 books | 3 challenges
Challenges for Cohort 3
What happens after qualifiers?
Top 5 teams from each cohort will be announced as finalists in May 2025. They will proceed to the grand finale in Atlanta on the weekend of Jun 14-15, 2025. Additionally, challenge toppers will also be announced.
What happens at the Grand Finale?
The finalists will compete in 3 more rounds – Jeopardy, Just-3-Minutes, Act It Out – for the top spot. These will take place in person in Atlanta.
What about internships?
Along with the final rounds, there will be an internship fair where all Tejas participants, whether or not you made it to the finals, will be able to interact with authors and Indic organizations and explore internship opportunities.
Still have questions?
We’re here for you!
Tejas ’24 Glimpses
Chance to chat with luminaries like Rajiv Malhotra
One-on-one with bestselling authors like Ami Ganatra
Mentoring by authors, film makers, visual artists, podcasters, Indic experts
Tejas ’24 Reviews
Tejas ’24 Captures
"Since my daughter registered for “Tejas", we have almost read the books as a family. The books had eventually become a part of our dinner table, long walk and grandparents' phone call discussions. This process has made us explore and rediscover ourselves."
Uncover the world’s largest literature collection you’ve missed out on
Discover entirely new genres of books, opening your mind to new ideas and philosophies that never surface in mainstream media. Join Tejas to uncover a world that you would likely not on your own.
Missed out on Tejas ’25? Don’t worry. Stay tuned for Tejas ’26 news.