Commonwealth Short Story Contest

Eligibility and entry rules

Please read these eligibility and entry rules carefully before beginning the online entry process.

Open for entries from 18 October 2011.

Entry forms must be submitted no later than 30 November 2011 (5pm GMT).

No entries will be considered if received after this date without prior consent from the Prize Administrator at writers@commonwealth.int

Download rules as .pdf
1. About the Prize

a. The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is an annual award for unpublished short fiction administered and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation

b. The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is part of Commonwealth Writers, a pan-Commonwealth initiative which unearths and develops new writers.

c. The prize covers the Commonwealth regions of 1. Africa, 2. Asia, 3. Canada and Europe, 4. Caribbean and 5. Pacific. (see Section 4 for countries in each region)

d. There will be five winners, one from each region. The overall winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize will receive £5,000 and the remaining four regional winners £1,000.

e. The final selection will be judged by an international judging panel; experienced readers will assist the named judges in selecting the long lists.

f. Worldwide copyright of each story remains with the writer. The Commonwealth Foundation will have the unrestricted right to publish the winning stories (the overall winning story and the four regional winning stories) in the annual anthology and for promotional stories.

g. The overall and regional winners will be expected to take part in publicity activities including social media where possible

h. The overall winner (and regional winners) will be expected to undertake a mutually acceptable programme of regional outreach activities to develop and promote Commonwealth Writers.
2. Eligibility

a) Entrants must be citizens of a Commonwealth country.
b) Entrants must be aged 18 years or over.
c) Entries will only be accepted via the online entry forms
d) The deadline for receipt of entries is 30 November 2011.
e) Writers from non-Commonwealth countries (including the Republic of Ireland and Zimbabwe) are not eligible.
f) There is no requirement for the writer to have current residence in a Commonwealth country, providing she/he is a citizen of a Commonwealth country.
g) The prize is for living writers.
h) The entry must be written in English (Works translated from other languages are not eligible).
i) All entries will be accepted at the discretion of the Commonwealth Foundation who will exercise its judgement, in consultation with the Prize Chair as necessary, in ruling on questions of eligibility. The ruling of the Chair on questions of eligibility is final, and no further correspondence will be entered into.
3. Entry rules

a) Entries must be made by the writer

b) For regional purposes, entries will be judged by country of citizenship. Where the writer has dual citizenship, the entry will be judged in the region where the writer is permanently resident.

c) One entry per writer.

d) The story must be the entrant’s own work.

e) The story must be original and should not have been previously published anywhere in full or in part. Published work is taken to mean published in any printed, publicly accessible form, e.g. anthology, magazine, newspaper. It is also taken to mean published online, with the exception of personal blogs and personal websites.

f) All entries must be written in English.

g) Entries must be 2,000 words minimum, 5,000 words maximum.

h) Entries must be uploaded in a PDF or word document (or equivalent). All entries must be submitted in Ariel 12 point font and double line spacing. The first page should include the name of the story and the number of words.

i) The author’s details should be included in the entry form, they must not be given anywhere on the uploaded document;

j) There are no theme or genre restrictions

k) The story should be adult fiction and must not have been written for children alone

l) Entrants agree as a condition of entry that the prize organisers may publicise the fact that a story has been entered or shortlisted for the Prize.

m) Entries will not be returned.

n) For any other entry or eligibility queries please email writers@commonwealth.int for clarification before submitting an entry.

FOR MORE INFO GO HERE.

MAHUBE 2012- Call for Submissions

Dear Members of the Writers Association of Botswana,

WABO is calling for submissions from members only for the third edition of our literary journal, Mahube. The theme is WATER.

What we’re looking for:
- poems (maximum of 3) 40 lines maximum
-short stories (maximum of 2) under 1000 words
- creative non-fiction under 1000 words

The deadline for submissions is the 31st December 2011. Email all submissions to botswanawriters@gmail.com.

Submission guidelines:

1. On the first page of your submission include: the title of your piece, your name, postal address, email address, telephone number, and the date on which your membership was paid and membership number.
2. Please write MAHUBE 2012 in the subject line of your email
3. Send as an attachment.
4. Submissions can be in English or Setswana.
5. Writing previously published in other countries is allowed. Please give the publishing history of the piece.
6. Only emailed, typed submissions will be allowed.

All submissions must be accompanied by a letter declaring that the submitted works are the original work of the author who retains the copyright. Simultaneous submissions are allowed.

All decisions regarding acceptances will be communicated by 1st February 2012. The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Contributors whose work is published will receive one free copy of Mahube.

Changes at the Commonwealth Prize

Commonwealth Writers - A World of New Fiction at www.commonwealthwriters.org Commonwealth Writers will include a new website, on-the-ground creative writing activities within regional communities, increased prize money, and the publication of an anthology of the winning short stories. Commonwealth Writers aims to unearth, promote and connect new writing talent across the fifty four countries of the Commonwealth. It will do this in two ways: Prizes We’ve preserved the strongest elements of the Commonwealth Foundation’s existing prizes, while at the same time putting them on the contemporary map of international new fiction:

Commonwealth Book Prize
Awarded for best first book, this prize is open to writers who have had their first novel (full length work of fiction) published between 1 January and 31 December 2011. Regional winners receive £2,500 and the overall winner receives £10,000. N.B. there will no longer be a Best Book award.

Commonwealth Short Story Prize
Awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2,000- 5,000 words). Regional winners receive £1,000 and the overall winner receives £5,000. For each prize we award four regional winners and one overall winner. The regions are Africa; Asia; Canada and Europe; Caribbean; and the Pacific. Both prizes are open to Commonwealth citizens aged 18 or over. Rules and eligibility information for both prizes, as well as the online entry forms, will be available at www.commonwealthwriters.org from 18 October 2011. The closing date for entries for the Commonwealth Book Prize is 9 December 2011 with last receipt of books by post no later than 16 December; and the closing date for entries for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize is 30 November 2011.

OpportunitiesCommonwealth Writers is on the lookout for fresh, new, talented writers from all parts of the Commonwealth. It aims to unearth those writers with talent, an original voice, and stories to tell. We’ll be working in partnership with international writers’ organisations, the wider cultural industries, and civil society to help new writers develop their craft. The prizes and outreach activities act as catalysts to target and identify talented writers from different regions who will go on to inspire and inform their local communities. Meanwhile, www.commonwealthwriters.org will be an online hub to inspire, inform and motivate distinctive new voices.
Please visit our website. We look forward to hearing from you at writers@commonwealth.int

Petlo Literary Trust to Hold Workshop

PRESS RELEASE

The Petlo Literary Arts Trust will host a workshop titled “Writing, Directing and Performing a One-Person, One-Act Play”.

The 5-day workshop will take place between the 26 and 30 October 2011 at the Oasis Motel. The writers from Petlo will work with actors to write, develop and rehearse a one-act play based on prominent female figures in Botswana’s history. The ultimate aim is to produce a complete manuscript of one-act plays for possible publication. Emphasis will be on writing and performance on stage.

The workshop will be facilitated by Cape Town-based actress, writer and director Mbali Kgosidintsi, who is originally from Botswana. She will use the five-day period to teach the participants the basic skills required to create, write, direct and act in a one-act, one-woman play. The workshop and all publications therefrom are sponsored by INVESTEC ASSET MANAGEMENT.

Mbali Kgosidintsi began facilitating and conducting workshops in 2005. Her self written one-woman show Tseleng: The Baggage of Bags was nominated for a Standard Bank Ovation award at the National Arts Festival 2010. She was one of four writers chosen to adapt The Magic Flute Impempe Yomlingo, directed by Mark Dornford May. After a run in the West End, it won the 2008 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical Revival.
At the end of 2008, she was awarded a writing residency on Sylt Island in North Germany where she worked on her auto-biographical novel with the working title Ntokozo: Happines is…She was one of the top four finalists for the Brett Golden Fund in Collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2007.

Any actors who are interested in participating in the workshop should contact the Trust at sls@poetic.com, sebonib@mopipi.ub.bw, 72498002 or 75028222.