Mrs Paula Chinwe Okafor Prize for Creative Non-Fiction

Crater Library & Publisher is now open for submissions for the second edition of Mrs Paula Chinwe Okafor Prize for Creative Non-Fiction. The prize is worth #200,000 and was instituted in honor of Mrs. Paula Chinwe Okafor (1956-2016), who was “an avid reader and lover of the arts and literature”, and for the recognition of “distinction in Nigerian creative non-fiction by young women. The deadline for submissions is the 1st of November, 2019.

 Who is Eligible to Apply:

• Young women between the ages of 18 and 35.
• Entrants must be Nigerians.

How to Apply

• Submit a creative non-fiction piece. It could be any of the following: a personal essay, memoir, travel writing, narrative journalism.
• The piece must be between 3500-5000.
• Any subject and theme is welcome.
• Submit only a single piece; multiple submissions are not welcome.
• The prize is only for unpublished writing. Any piece published in any form is ineligible.
• Subject title of email must be “Entry for 2019 Mrs. Paula Chinwe Okafor Prize for Creative Non-Fiction”
• Crater Library & Publisher reserves the right to disqualify any entry that breaches these guidelines.
• Submit entry to “litfest@thecraterlibrary.com“.
• The deadline for submissions is the 1st of November, 2019, by 11:30 WAT.

Prize:

• A cash prize of #200,000.

Dr Emmanuel C. Adukwu Prize for Literature

Crater Library & Publisher is now open for submissions from secondary school students in Enugu state for the maiden edition of the Dr. Emmanuel C. Adukwu Prize for Literature. The prize seeks to reward and encourage students “who show a strong voice and excellent literary vision.” The theme for this edition of the prize is “The Mask We Wear”.

According to their site, “Students are expected to explore narratives that irradiate the struggle of the Nigerian teenager in walking the path of discovery either prescribed by society or self.” The deadline for submissions is the 31st of October, 2019.

 Who is Eligible to Apply:

• The prize is open to any SS1-SS3 students in Enugu state.
• There is no entry fee.

 How to Apply:

• A short story or poems could be submitted. Short story should be between 3000 – 5000 words, while poems should not exceed 2 pages.
• All entries must be printed on an A4paper.
• Formatting: the font should be in Times New Roman, font size is 12 with 5 spacing.
• All pages must be paginated.
• Student’s name, school and class with Form Teacher’s phone number shall be written on the top left of the paper.
• Title of entry shall be boldly written beneath the student’s info with word count placed on the far right.
• Every school is allowed to submit 3 entries.
• Multiple entries from same student is not allowed, and if found out would lead to disqualification.
• The prize is only for unpublished writing. Any piece published in any form is ineligible.
• Entries shall be collated by form teachers on 30^th of October,2019.
• A representative of Crater Library & Publisher will visit each school on the 31^st of October, 2019 to collect all entries from form teachers.

Prizes:

• The winner will receive #50,000.
• The winning entry will also be published on the AfricaWeek UK blog and Crater Library & Publisher Blog.
• The winner’s school will get a donation of books for their school library.

Crater Literary Festival Book Pitch Competition

Crater Library & Publisher and AfricaWeek UK, in partnership with iSERVE2050, calls for submissions of book synopsis from non-fiction writers. The competition is designed “to attract and support a non-fiction writer with unique well-researched information and written content.”

According to their site, “We are looking to support anon-fiction writer who is keen on providing an expository research on any original, relevant and current south east anthropology/social/cultural topic with the aim of contributing to intellectual literature and discourse on south east region of Nigeria.”

The prize is a #100,000 grant and publication of the book when it is completed. The deadline for submissions is Friday, the 9th of November, 2019.

Who is Eligible to Submit:

• Any Nigerian writer working on a creative non-fiction book on southeastern Nigeria.
• There is no entry fee.

How to Apply:

• No restrictions on subject and theme.
• Multiple entries are not accepted.
• This research grant is only for unpublished writing.
• Send a synopsis of no more than 2500 words containing:

—The title of the manuscript;

—A statement of problem;

—Scope of your study in terms of number of states to cover in south east Nigeria;

—Why readers should be interested in or care enough for your research;

—An outline of your content (summary of each chapter);

—Research methods to be used;

—Why you are qualified to write this e-book;

• The preferred file format is
• In the body of the email, include YOUR NAME, STATE OF RESIDENT, TITLE OF YOUR BOOK, EMAIL ADDRESS, CONTACT ADDRESSand PHONE NUMBER.
• Do not include your name in the synopsis. Any submission that violates this guideline will be automatically disqualified.
• Subject of the e-mail should read:‘2019 Crater Literary Festival Book Pitch Competition’
• Submit to: litfest@thecraterlibrary.com
• The deadline for submissions is Friday, the 9th of November, 2019.

Prize:

• #100,000 grant to the winner.
• Publication of the book when it is completed.

The winners for each of these prizes will be announced at the 2019 Crater Literary Festival, Enugu on the 14th of December.

 Good luck.

The post CRATERLITFEST19 Calls for Submissions (Prizes: 350,000 NGN + more) appeared first on Creative Writing News.

It’s Halloween Season, and there is a tiny story contest you can submit to, and there is $500 to win. Write a scary story of fifty words and submit it to the 50 Word Halloween Horror Story Contest to win $500. The contest closes by the 25th of October, 2019.

Who is Eligible:

• Anybody from anywhere in the world is eligible.
• There is no entry fee.

How to Submit:

• Your story must be scary.
• It must be 50 words long.
• The story must be original.
• The story must be titled (Note that the title does not count in word count).
• Submissions close by the 25 of October, 2019.
• You may submit as many entries as you want.
• Submit here: 50 Word Horror Story Contest.

Prizes:

• The winner will receive $500.
• Their story will be published digitally and in print.
• The winner will also get an author page on Every Writer.

Good luck!

The post Submit to the 50 Word Halloween Horror Story Contest ($500 + Publication) appeared first on Creative Writing News.

Do you love fiction?

If yes, Afritondo has submitting for you.

• • • Afritondo, “the media and publishing platform that aims to connect with and tell the stories of Africans and black minority populations across the globe”, is calling for comments on their latest short story, “Looking for Papa”. This is in anticipation of their $1000 Short Story Prize, coming in October. If you enter this contest, which just requires to do one or two things you do every day, you stand a chance of winning $100.

Who is Eligible?

• • • • Any and everybody who loves fiction, from anywhere in the world.
      • No entry fee.

How to Apply

• • • • Follow Afritondo’s Facebook or Instagram page.
      • Read the short story “Looking for Papa” on their website: afritondo.com
      • You may like the ending of the story, but you must come up with an alternative ending. Enter it in the comment section on Facebook or Instagram. There is no strict word limit but a brief description of less than 100 words will do.
      • The comments (the alternative endings) will be reviewed from Sunday, 22 September, 9PM BST, and the winner will be notified on Monday 23rd.

Prize

• • • •  $USD100 (or its local equivalent) will be transferred by bank transfer or PayPal.
      • NOTE: Where the winner cannot receive the prize, another winner will be selected.

Good luck.

The post Win $100 in Afritondo’s Flash Fiction Contest / How To Apply appeared first on Creative Writing News.

Electric literature is currently accepting flash fiction stories for its ongoing 2020 “Stories Out of School” Flash Fiction Contest. This competition is being organized by The Academy for Teachers, in collaboration with Electric Literature. The contest serves to promote stories and writing about teachers.

Various winners will be awarded a cash prize of $1,500. The overall winner will receive a grand cash award of $1,000. The deadline to enter is October 1st, 2019.

Here’s how the organizers explained the theme:

Teachers have one of the most fascinating, difficult, and important jobs on the planet, and their work days are filled with stories. Yet teachers seldom appear in fiction. This annual contest was created to inspire honest, unsentimental stories about teachers and the rich and complex world of schools. This year, the Academy for Teachers has partnered with Electric Literature to publish the winning entry.

So who is eligible to apply for the 2020 Stories Out Of School Flash Fiction Contest?

• Entrants can be from any part of the world. There are no geographical restricctions.
• Writers must be 18 years old and above.

Other Important submissions guidelines:

• Only unpublished stories will be accepted
• Accepted word count: 6 – 749 words,
• The protagonist (or the narrator) of the story must be a K-12 teacher.
• All entries must be submitted before the October 1st 2019 deadline.

Manuscript formatting guidelines

• Before you submit your manuscript,

1. Change the font to Arial font 12-point
2. Double space the story.
3. Your name, email address, phone number, and word count must appear in the upper left corner of the document.

How to submit your story

• all submissions must be made via the online portal
• To submit your story, fill the columns  and upload your story via the Electric Literature’s submittable page

https://creativewritingnews.com/2018/07/05/writers-here-are-five-tips-for-winning-awards-at-writing-contests/

Prizes and awards:

The first-prize winner will be given a $1,000 cash award, The winning flash story will be published on Electric Literature’s The Commuter.

The second prize winner will get a $500 prize.

Short Story Master Class Part 2: What Makes a Good Story?

Everything you need to know about the judge of this award?

Susan Choi will judge this year’s contest. She’s the author of five novels: My Education, A Person of Interest, The Foreign Student, American Woman, and, most recently, Trust Exercise. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship and the PEN/W.G. Sebald award.

 

The post Electric Literature’s Stories Out Of School Flash Fiction Writing Contest (Prize: $1,500) appeared first on Creative Writing News.

Young writers from all over the world are invited to apply for “The 12^th Eco-generation Environmental Essay Competition”.  This contest is being organized by  Samsung Engineering jin collaboration with UN environment. Essays are expected to reflect the theme of the upcoming World Environment Day event:  Beat Air Pollution.

According to the press release on the World Environment Day website,

What the judges will be looking for:

• Excellent writing
• Well-researched pieces
• Creative and inspiring ideas convincing everyone to reduce pollution.
• Creative and beautifully-written personal essay stories that show why and how air pollution can be reduced to the barest minimum. Essay must explore the causes, effects, and consequences of air pollution.

Basically, your essay should answer the question, ‘how can we tackle air pollution.’

Who is eligible to apply for the ‘Samsung Engineering/ UN-Sponsored Environment 12th Eco-generation Environmental Essay Competition 2019?

• Young writers who are Tunza Eco-generation members. Register on the https://tunza.eco-generation.org website to become a member.
• Entrants must be between the ages of 14 and 24
• Entrants must be passionate about writing about the theme of combating air pollution.
• Essays must be submitted before the 2nd September, 2019 (GMT 0) Submission deadline.

Click to read Personal Essay: On Getting Writing Advice From Chimamanda Adichie, Bonding With The Literati and Enjoying The Purple Hibiscus Creative Writing Workshop

Submission Guidelines

• No entry fee is required.
• Do not send plagiarized  or previously published essays.,
• Only one essay per entrant will be allowed.
• Word count: 800 – 1000 words  (this specified word count doesn’t include referencing such as footnotes and bibliography. )
• Essays must be written in English.
• Entrants must register at Tunza.eco-generation.org in order to submit their essay online.
• Manuscript format guidelines

• Essays must be double spaced
• Font type: Times New Roman 12pt, with numbered pages.
• Accepted file formats:.
  – MS Word
  – Word Perfect
• PDFs or any other file formats will not be considered.

How to apply:

• All essays must be submitted online.
• To upload your entry, visit the Tunza Eco-generation Website/Egen Event/Monthly Event/

Forward all inquiries to the organizers.. Contact details are available on their website.

Good luck.’

You might also be interested in :

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Essay Competition 2019 / How To Apply

Pitch To Publication 2019 Is Now Open / How To Apply (Awards: Book deal and more)

Morland Writing Scholarships For African Writers 2019 (Awards:₤18,000) / How To Apply

The post Samsung Engineering/ UN-Sponsored Environment 12th Eco-generation Environmental Essay Competition 2019 (Awards: certificates and Samsung electronic devices) / How To Apply appeared first on Creative Writing News.

Sisca Julius wins the K and L prize ($1000 New Zealand) for her story, Honey Bee. Her story along with all longlisted entries would be published in the K and L Anthology, Histories of Yesterday.

Julius is a 23 year-old Bachelor of Arts student, studying at Sol Plaatje University in Kimberley, South Africa. Her majors are Afrikaans, Creative Writing, Anthropology and Heritage Studies. She writes in Afrikaans and English.

“I love writing in the dialect of the “coloured” people of South Africa, who mix Afrikaans, English and Khoi languages,” the writer says.

Julius describes her short fiction, Honey Bee, as a narrative about the way her people of South Africa were stripped of their language. Language is vital to her. “I think in Afrikaans. I love Afrikaans. Inasmuch as I love Afrikaans, I long to cloak my mouth in clicks like my grandmother and her mother. I am afraid that the Nama language will become extinct in South Africa and if you lose your language, you lose your culture,” she says.

The judges for the inaugural prize, Zana Bell and Uchechukwu Umezurike, indicate that the entries, submitted from all around the African continent, touch vital areas of Africa’s rich history. ‘The stories that made it to the finals are quite impressive, making it quite hard to award the prize,’ Umezurike says.

Four entries made it to the final stage along with Julius’s Honey Bee, and they are: Melody Anthony (also known as M) for her story, The Many-Faced God; Mazpa Ejikem for his story, The Secrets of Water Bodies; and Okechi Okeke for his story, When Sullen Faces Gnaw at You. ‘These stories, the four of them, are so different – each poignantly told with its own strengths,’ Bell comments.

The K & L Prize for African Literature, founded in 2018,  is sponsored by a New Zealand based Nigerian writer, Myles Ojabo. The prize is awarded yearly for the best piece of unpublished short fiction by an African resident, age 18 to 25.

You might also be interested in:

Pitch To Publication 2019 Is Now Open / How To Apply (Awards: Book deal and more)

Morland Writing Scholarships For African Writers 2019 (Awards:₤18,000) /

Fully Funded Creative Writing Masterclass To Be Facilitated By Ayobami Adebayo, Teju Cole and Emmanuel Iduma / How To Apply

The post South African Writer, Sisca Julius, Wins The Inaugural Edition Of The K And L Prize For Literature appeared first on Creative Writing News.

Research essayists at the graduate (Masters or Doctoral) level are invited to enter for the ongoing UN High Commissioner Refugee Essay Competition 2019. All essays must reflect the 2019 African Union’s Theme: ‘The Year of Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons: Towards Durable Solutions for Forced Displacement in Africa’.

This competition is being organized by UNHCR and Addis Ababa University’s Centre for Human Rights (CHR-AAU).

According to the press release, the essay contest has been organized to:

commemorate the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa and the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the AU Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention).

Deadline for submissions is 17:00 Addis Ababa time on 31 December 2019.

Illegibility

• Only graduate students in African Universities are eligible
• Writer must be knowledgeable in writing research essays
• Only one essay per entrant will be permitted.
• Entrant must be aged 18 or over;
• A national of, or ordinarily resident in, an AU member state
• Essay must be written in English
• Essay must be endorsed by a faculty member in your university.

Submissions Guidelines:

• Submission must be a research essay
• Word count:  3,000 words max (this includes any cover page, table of contents, footnotes, bibliography, etc…) t
• Essays must do justice to the topic of refugees and/or IDPs in Africa.

• Research may come from any relevant discipline (including but not limited to economics, geography, history, law, philosophy, politics or sociology), or may be interdisciplinary. The research may be theoretical, or it may incorporate empirical/field research findings.

Jury
An internal jury composed of UNHCR experts and CHR-AAU faculty will screen all entries. The most accomplished works will be forwarded to an expert jury composed of international experts.

How to apply for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Essay Competition 2019

• Ensure that your essay is in PDF format
• Send your submission as an email attachment to

1. birhane.azaghe@aau.edu.et,
2. wondemagegn.tadesse@aau.edu.et
3. and ethadrau@unhcr.org

• All submissions must be emailed before the before 17:00 Addis Ababa time on 31 December 2019 deadline .

Other materials to include in your submission (both in the body of the email and in the PDF doc)

• Your full name;
• Your date of birth;
• Your phone number and email address;
• Your nationality or country of habitual residence;
• The name of the university where you are registered;
• Proof of registration; and
• An endorsement in PDF format of no more than 200 words written by a faculty
member from your university.

Entries will be judged based on the following criteria:

• Quality of writing;
• Quality of research;
• Timeliness and importance of topic; and
• Contribution to increasing understanding of forced displacement in Africa.

Prize/Awards
Winners will receive:

• A cash award of of $1,000 USD
• An opportunity to be published by UNHCR and CHR-AAU

Winners will be announced in May 2020.

The post UN High Commissioner for Refugees Essay Competition 2019 / How To Apply appeared first on Creative Writing News.

The Miles Morland Foundation Scholarship 2019 has opened for submissions. So if you’re an African writer (by origin or naturalization) and you have a fantastic idea for a novel or non-fiction book, please apply. You might win the ₤18,000 award and the support you need to write your ground breaking book. Deadline for applications is 30th September, 2019. A shortlist will be announced in November. The overall winners will be announced in December, 2019.

Who Is Eligible to Apply for The Morland Writing Scholarships For African Writers 2019?

• African Writers
• Writers who have published anything that is currently on sale.
• Writers who have an idea for a full-length book of at least 80,000 words.

Submissions Guidelines:

If your parents were born in Africa (and you weren’t) or if you were born in Africa (and your passport shows that you were), then here are the other guidelines you must know.

• Only one submission per writer will be considered
• You must provide links to your works that are available for purchasing.
• Submissions must be written in English.
• Poetry, plays, film scripts, children’s books, and short story collections do not qualify. This award is for only adult prose fiction or prose non-fiction..

How To Apply for the Miles Morland scholarships 2019.

• All submissions must be sent via the Miles Morland Scholarship  2019 Application  Portal;
• In order to be considered for this award, you must, the following materials must be submitted:

•a proposal (400 – 1,000 words) of the work you intend to write during your scholarship year.

• Submit a biography of 200 – 300 words something about yourself and your background.

• A scan of an official document showing that you, or both of your parents, were born in Africa

• A submission of between 2,000 to 5,000 words as a Word document of work that has been published and offered for sale. Please send proof of publication.

Awards and Prizes:

• A fiction award of £18,000 will be given to 2- 4 writers over the course of twelve months,
•   A nonfiction award of £22,000-27,000  will be paid to 1 -2 writers over the course of eighteen months
• The 20 shortlisted writers will receive a scholarship to attend a fully-funded creative writing workshop in an African country.

Scholar’s Undertaking:

At the end of each month scholars must send the Foundation 10,000 new words that they will have written over the course of the month. Scholars are also asked to donate to the MMF 20% of whatever they subsequently receive from the book they write during the period of their Scholarship. This includes revenues as a result of film rights, serialisations or other ancillary revenues arising from the book written during the Scholarship period. These funds will be used to support other promising writers. The 20% return obligation should be considered a debt of honour rather than a legally binding obligation.

 

Want to read the proposals of previous winners? Here are a few snap shots. .

Proposals have all been culled from the Miles Morland Scholarship Website.

Direct all inquiries to: scholarships@milesmorlandfoundation.com

The post Morland Writing Scholarships For African Writers 2019 (Awards:₤18,000) / How To Apply appeared first on Creative Writing News.

Chicken Soup for the Soul is currently accepting personal essays for its upcoming anthology. This new anthology is themed: “Self Care and Me Time.”

Taking care of yourself is not just about your physical health but includes your emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing too. Self-care includes that all-important “me time” whether that means exercising or reading or meditating or having lunch with friends. Whatever your psyche needs is your “me time.”

We are looking for your stories about how you neglected your self-care and then how you realized its importance and so you now engage in it.

Recommended Topics To Inspire You:

How to apply:

Fill the form and upload your essay on the Chicken Soup For The Soul Submissions Page.

Awards/Payment:

• $200 per story or poem,
• 5 contributor copies.

Deadline:  December 31st, 2019.

The post Submit Poems and Stories To This Self Care and Me Time-Themed Anthology (Award: $200 + 25 Contributors Copies) appeared first on Creative Writing News.

Poets might be interested in sending their poems for the Blue Mountain Arts poetry card contest. The poems will be used in the Blue Mountain Arts greeting cards. No entry fee is required. There are no geographical restrictions, so writers can apply from anywhere in the world.

2019 Blue Mountain Arts Biannual Poetry Card Contest Submissions Guidelines .

•  Poems for this contest can be rhyming or non-rhyming.
• Entrants are free to send as many poems as they deem fit.
• Entries must be written in English Language.
• They prefer poems about real emotions and feelings (it helps if you have some special person or occasion in mind as you write.)
• Poem must be the original work of the entrant.
• Only unpublished poems will be considered.
• All entries must be submitted before the 30 June 2019 deadline.

How To Apply for the Blue Mountain Arts Biannual Poetry Card Contest

Fill the form and upload your entry on the Blue Mountain Arts website.

Prizes and Awards:

First prize winner will receive: $350

Second prize winner will receive:$200

Third prize winner will receive $100

Click to read How I Earned My First $1,200 From Writing and Publishing Poetry

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