Call for Submissions | 2018 Caine Prize for African Writing
The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literature
prize awarded to an African writer of a short story published in English. The
prize was launched since 2000 to motivate as well as highlighting the richness
and multiplicity of African writing by bringing it to a larger international audience.
The focus on the short story reflects the contemporary
development of the African story-telling tradition.
By definition, “an African writer” is expected to be someone
who was born in Africa, or who is a national of an African country, or who has
a parent who is African by birth or nationality.
Therefore, the Prize is awarded to a short story written by
an African writer published in English, whether living in Africa or elsewhere.
Understanding
the Caine the Prize:
The Caine Prize for African Writing as a registered charity,
aims is to bring African writing to a larger international audience through their
annual literary award. In addition to administering the Prize, they work to
connect readers with African writers through a series of public events, as well
as helping emerging writers in Africa to enter the world of mainstream
publishing through the annual Caine Prize writers’ workshop which takes place
in a different African country each year.
The stories written at Caine Prize workshops are published
annually alongside the Prize’s shortlisted stories in the annual Caine Prize
Anthology by New Internationalist in the UK and publishers in eight African
countries including, Jacana Media (South Africa), Cassava Republic (Nigeria),
Kwani (Kenya), Sub-Saharan Publishers (Ghana), FEMRITE (Uganda), Gadsen
Publishers (Zambia), ‘amaBooks (Zimbabwe) and Langaa (Cameroon).
Benefits
from the Prize:
Winning and short-listed authors will be invited to
participate in writers’ workshops in Africa, London or somewhere else as
resources permit. The winner is also invited to go to three literature
festivals in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria.
Categories of the Prize:
- There is a cash
prize of £10,000 for the winning author and a travel award for each of the
short-listed candidates (up to five in all).
- The shortlisted
candidates will also receive a Prize of £500 each
Eligibility
- Unpublished work
is not eligible for the Caine Prize
- Submissions should
be made by publishers only
- Only fictional
work is eligible
- Only one story per
author will be considered in a year
Other Rules:
- Submissions should
specify which African country the author comes from and the word count
- Entrants are required
to submit six (6) copies of their work in its originally published
version;
- If the work is
published in a book or journal, they would like to receive at least one
copy of the book / journal and five photocopies; but particularly where
several stories are submitted from one anthology they would like if
possible to receive six copies of the book / journal itself;
- If the work is
published online, they would like to receive six printed copies.
Important Note:
Stories for children, factual writing, plays, biography,
works shorter than 3000 words and unpublished work are not eligible for
submission.
Application
Letter:
To apply, entrants are to send six original published
copies of the work for consideration to the Caine Prize office including a
letter from the publisher.
Advice:
Writers who are not sure whether their works are eligible for
entry have been advised to email the organizers for advice. Email can be sent
to: info@caineprize.com
Deadline:
Submissions close on January
31, 2018
Comments
Post a Comment
We love to hear from you, share your comment/views. Thanks