Poetavango, the
poetry group in Maun, is one of the groups that operate under the motto- “If
not us than who?”. They don’t like the conditions that they live in, so they
get busy trying to create the world that they want and I seriously respect
that. This year they are taking another welcome step toward improving the
situation for writers in Botswana by running a short story competition in conjunction
with the Maun International Arts Festival.
In their press
release they identified the problem- “One
of the objectives of the Maun International Arts Festival 2015 is to promote
the literary arts, to give hope to writers who, throughout the years have been,
by and large, disgruntled by the conditions of the writing industry in
Botswana. Nascent writers are easily discouraged by the somehow
writer-unfriendly environment within which we live.” Then the group set out
to solve it- “The Maun International Arts
Festival seeks to promote the culture of reading and writing. As an initiative
for achieving this, the organisers, Poetavango Spoken Word Poetry are
introducing the first Poetavango Award for Short Fiction. The literary competition will focus only on
the short story form for fiction writers living in Botswana. It is hoped that
in the future, the competition will include awards for novels, poetry and
journalism.”.
The plan is to
publish the winning entries and a selection of the better submissions in an
anthology. This is a great opportunity for writers in the country and we should
all try to support them.
The
rules for the competition are:
·
Only
writers living in Botswana can enter the competition (citizens or
non-citizens), 18 years old and above.
·
Only
one submission per writer allowed.
Writers
can submit stories in any fiction genre, e.g. literary, romance, thriller,
adventure, suspense, horror, etc.
· Stories
should be no longer than 3500 words and must be in English.
·
Stories
must be set in existing places/locations of Botswana. Stories with non-existent
or international settings will be disqualified.
·
Stories
must not have been previously published in any form, including online platforms
(websites, blogs or social media)
·
Only
email submissions allowed. Stories must be submitted as a .doc or .docx
attachment, no PDF or any other format is allowed. Stories should not be pasted
in the body of the email either.
·
The
deadline is July 30th 2015,
11:59pm CAT. Late entries will not be considered.
·
Submissions
must bear the title of the story and name of writer. However, stories will be
judged anonymously with names removed.
·
Writers
are allowed to use pseudonyms, but real names must be indicated in the body of
the email.
·
Document
must be typed in Times New Roman, font size 12, 1.5 line spacing. Paragraphs
must be left-justified, ie, leave the right margin ragged. Titles must be
centered and bolded in same type as the body but font size 14. Name of the
writer should also be centered (size 12 and bolded) and immediately under the
title.
·
In
the body of the email, write your names in full (even where pseudonyms are used
in the story, you need to provide real names here), address and contact details
and the word count of your story.
·
By
entering the competition, the writer declares that the story is their original
work and grants Poetavango the permission to publish the work either in print
or digital platforms.
·
Members
of the Poetavango Collective and their families are NOT allowed to enter the
competition; however, their work may be included in anthologies where
necessary.
·
All
submissions will be acknowledged with a response from the receivers.
Shortlisted stories will be announced by August 30th while the
winners will be announced by September 15th.
·
The
judges’ decision is final.
·
The
Award Ceremony will take place on October 26th during the Maun
International Arts Festival ’15, in Maun, Botswana. Winners are expected to
attend this event.
·
For
more information or enquiries, email to poetavango@hotmail.com or call +267 73597356 or +267 74083616
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