Wednesday, May 30, 2018

3rd Poetavango Short Story Contest

THIRD ANNUAL POETAVANGO AWARD FOR SHORT FICTION 
– CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

The Poetavango Collective calls for good quality short stories for its third annual literary award competition, the Poetavango Award for Short Fiction. The competition focuses only on the short story form of fiction writing for writers living in Botswana.
 
Writers are requested to submit short stories on any theme, so long as the stories comply with the terms and condition of entry stated below. 

Submission deadline is Friday, August 21st 2018. Submit to poetavango@hotmail.com with the subject line ‘short story submission’. 

First Prize: P3000, Second Prize: P2000, Third prize: P1000. 
All stories submitted may be considered for publication in a short story anthology. 

 Terms and conditions of entry

1. Stories must be fiction.
2. Only writers living in Botswana can enter the competition (citizens or non-citizens).
3. Writers should be 18 years or over.
4. Only one submission per writer allowed. No multiple submissions. 
5. Writers can submit stories in any fiction genre, e.g. literary, romance, thriller, adventure, suspense, horror, etc.
6. Stories should not be longer than 3500 words.
7. Stories must be in English only.
8. Stories must be set anywhere in existing places/locations of Botswana. Stories with non-existent or international settings will be disqualified. 
9. Stories must not have been previously published in any form, including online platforms (websites, blogs or social media)
10. 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. 
11. Stories must be submitted on or before August 21st 2018, 11:59pm CAT. Late entries will not be considered.
12. Submissions must bear the title of the story and name of writer. However, stories will be judged anonymously with names removed. 
13. Writers are allowed to use pseudonyms, but real names must be indicated on the email body, see point 14.
14. 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.  
15. 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. Personal information will not be shared with anyone.
16. By entering the competition, the writer declares that the story is their original work.
17. 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. 
18. First place winners of the past two competitions are not allowed to contest.   
19. All submission 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 29th. 
20. The judges’ decision is final.
21. The Award Ceremony will take place on October 25th during the Maun International Arts Festival ’18, 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