The Crossword Award, across five categories, each carrying a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, a trophy and a citation were given out at a function at the NCPA here yesterday.
Salim, who was born in Varkala and currently works for an advertising agency has written four novels so far. Salim's book trumped "The Competent Authority" by Shovon Chowdhury, "The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baske" by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, "The Smoke is Rising" by Mahesh Rao, "This Place by Amitabha Bagchi" and "Odysseus Abroad" by Amit Chaudhuri.
Indian-born British writer, literary critic and translator Lakshmi Holmstrom won the Indian language translation category award for her English translation of "Children, Women, Men" first written by noted Tamil writer Sundara Ramaswamy also known as Su.Ra.
Competing for the same prize were authors Jerry Pinto who translated "Cobalt Blue" written in Marathi by Sachin Kundalkar, Aniruddhan Vasudevan who translated from Tamil Perumal Murugan's "One Part Woman," Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, for "The Mirror of Beauty" in Urdu, Keerti Ramachandra for translating "A Dirge for the Dammed" by Marathi writer Vishwas Patil and Rakshanda Jalil for gher translation of "The Death of Sheherzad" penned in Urdu by Intizaar Hussain.