Gen Next Competition

What is the Gen Next Competition?

Gen Next Competition is a craft competition run by Poompuhar, the trading name of the Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation Limited, under the Handlooms, Handicrafts, Textiles and Khadi Department, Government of Tamil Nadu. The competition was started from the year 2013-14 with a single purpose: to encourage young people to keep practising the traditional handicrafts of Tamil Nadu and to pass them on to the next generation.

Tamil Nadu's craft traditions, bronze icon casting at Swamimalai, stone sculpture at Mamallapuram, palm leaf and pith work, kalamkari, wood carving, brass and bell metal, terracotta, mat weaving; depend on transmission within families and workshops. The Gen Next Competition addresses the point where that transmission breaks: a young person who has learned the craft but sees no future in it. By finding 150 young artisans every year, putting their work in front of a selection committee and honouring them publicly, the corporation gives that young artisan a reason and a record.

Where it sits among Poompuhar's awards. The corporation gives seven artisan awards a year, and the Gen Next Competition is by far the largest by number of recipients:

Poompuhar records that Tamil Nadu gives the highest number of awards to artisans of any state in the country each year.

What each artisan receives. Published descriptions of the competition state that 150 artisans were chosen, duly honoured and given Rs 2,000 cash, silver medals and certificates. The corporation's own application conditions for the current cycle carry a higher figure of Rs 10,000. Because Poompuhar reissues the terms with each year's form, an applicant should take the amount from the notification for the year being applied for rather than from any secondary description.

Where it is held. The competitions are held in the important craft pockets of Tamil Nadu, that is, in the clusters where a given craft is concentrated — rather than centrally at Chennai. That is what makes the competition reachable for a young artisan who cannot travel.

Who is eligible for the Gen Next Competition, and who is not eligible?

You can enter if:

• You are a young handicraft artisan below 30 years of age. That is the defining condition of the competition, and what separates it from Poompuhar's awards for established artisans.
• You work in one of the notified craft categories. The application conditions list 16 numbered craft categories for the year.
• You hold a Poompuhar identity card. The application form's first field asks for the Poompuhar Identity Card No.
• You are an artisan in Tamil Nadu and the entered work is made by your own hand.

You cannot enter if:

• You are 30 years of age or above. An older artisan is not eligible for the Gen Next Competition and should apply instead for the Poompuhar District Craft Award, which covers 85 artisans a year, or for the state-level awards.
• You are applying for another Poompuhar award in the same year. The corporation's conditions require an artisan to apply for only one award in a year.
• Your craft falls outside the notified categories for the year.
• You submit after the closing date and time. The 2026-27 form carried 6 July 2026 at 5.00 p.m., and a late entry is not eligible.
• You are entering work you did not make. The competition judges the young artisan's own skill.

How to apply for the Gen Next Competition

1. Register with Poompuhar and get your identity card number. The corporation registers handicraft artisans and issues identity cards, and the number is the first field on the application form. Without it the form cannot be completed.
2. Watch the awards notification page at tnhdc.poompuhar.com/award/, where Poompuhar publishes the year's forms and notices for all seven awards in Tamil and English. The Gen Next Competition form for 2026-27 was published alongside the other 2026-27 forms.
3. Check the craft categories. The form lists 16 numbered categories; confirm that your craft is among them for the year you are applying in.
4. Make the entry. Prepare the handicraft you intend to submit, and photograph it clearly from several angles.
5. Fill the form with your identity card number, name, craft, address, age, details of the entry and bank particulars, and attach age proof, Aadhaar, photographs and the bank passbook copy.
6. Submit before the deadline to the Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation, 759, Anna Salai, Chennai 600 002, before 5.00 p.m. on the last date, or at the competition venue in your craft pocket as the notification directs.
7. Attend the competition in your craft cluster, where the entries are assessed and the 150 young artisans are selected and honoured.

What documents are required?

What are the deadlines?

Poompuhar announces its seven awards together and extends them together, so the Gen Next dates move with the rest:

• 2026-27: the Gen Next Competition application carried 6 July 2026 at 5.00 p.m. Other 2026-27 awards ran to different dates, the Poompuhar State Award was extended to 24 July 2026, the Utility Based Award form carried 30 July 2026 with the revised affidavit extended to 31 July 2026, and the Living Craft Treasure Award was extended to 10 August 2026.
• 2025-26: the Gen Next Competition form carried 29 August 2025, and the corporation then announced that submission of the Living Craft Treasure Award, Team Production Award, Utility Based Handicraft Award, Handicraft Export Award, Poompuhar District Craft Award and Gen Next Competition award was extended up to 10 September 2025.

Extensions are published only on the corporation's awards page, so check it rather than relying on last year's date.

What else does Poompuhar do for young artisans?

Winning a Gen Next prize is a starting point, not the whole of what the corporation offers. Poompuhar's development work for artisans includes:

• Common Facility Centres. TNHDC has established 14 CFCs in significant handicraft clusters across Tamil Nadu, giving artisans infrastructure, machinery and training. The centres are equipped with modern machinery including 4-axis machines, CNC machines, 3D printers, electric furnaces and wood carving machines, equipment a young artisan could never buy alone.
• Artisan identity cards, which are the gateway to the corporation's awards and services.
• Marketing through Poompuhar showrooms, which buy and sell artisan production.
• The Poompuhar mobile app, referred to in the corporation's award conditions for artisan services.
• The award ladder itself, District Craft Award for 85 artisans, Team Production Award for 3 teams, Utility Based Handicrafts Award for 3 artisans, State Award and Living Craft Treasure Award for 10 eminent artisans each. A Gen Next winner has a clear path upward as the career develops.

Why entries fail

• Age over 30. The competition has a hard boundary, and age proof decides it.
• No Poompuhar identity card number, without which the form cannot be filled. Registration takes time, so do it before the award season opens.
• Craft outside the 16 notified categories for the year.
• Applying for a second Poompuhar award in the same year, which the conditions prohibit.
• Late submission, after 5.00 p.m. on the closing date.
• Poor presentation of the entry. With 150 places against entries from every craft pocket in the state, finish and photography matter.

Where to ask and where to complain

• Corporation: Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation Limited (Poompuhar), 759, Anna Salai, Chennai 600 002. Telephone 044-28521271, 28521325, 28521798 and 28525094; email info@poompuhar.com.
• Awards page: tnhdc.poompuhar.com/award/ for forms, notices, extensions and selection lists.
• Department: the Handlooms, Handicrafts, Textiles and Khadi Department, Government of Tamil Nadu.

There is no application fee for the Gen Next Competition, and no intermediary can secure a place among the 150. Selection is made on the work.

How to check your Gen Next Competition application status

The Gen Next Competition does not run an online applicant login or a tracking ID system like a subsidy scheme does. Because it is a competition judged at the craft-pocket venue, an artisan's status moves through three stages, and each has its own way of checking.

1. After submission, before the competition. Once the form reaches the Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation office at 759, Anna Salai, Chennai 600 002, there is no separate acknowledgement number to track online. Confirm receipt by calling the corporation directly on 044-28521271, 28521325, 28521798 or 28525094, or by writing to info@poompuhar.com, quoting your Poompuhar identity card number and the year you applied for.

2. Venue and schedule confirmation. The date and location of the competition in your craft pocket is announced by Poompuhar on the awards page at tnhdc.poompuhar.com/award/, alongside the application form itself. An artisan who has submitted an entry should keep checking this page as the closing date passes, since venue and date notices for each craft cluster are posted there rather than sent individually to applicants.

3. After the competition, for selection results. The 150 selected artisans are announced by the corporation, and selection lists for its awards are published on the same tnhdc.poompuhar.com/award/ page. An artisan who attended the competition in their craft pocket can also ask at the venue itself, or follow up afterward with the Poompuhar office by phone or email using the identity card number as reference, since no separate SMS or portal notification system is described for this award.

Because Poompuhar does not publish a status-check portal or reference-number lookup for its artisan awards, the phone numbers and the awards page above are the only two channels available for an applicant to confirm where their entry stands.