WRITE FOR PEN NIGERIA AND STAND A CHANCE OF WINNING $1000.00, ONE YEAR
MENTORSHIP PLUS OTHER CHANCES.
Nigerian PEN Centre is calling for entries in prose and
poetry in order to shortlist a male and female writer in the age bracket of
18-30 years old to represent the centre in the PEN INTERNATIONAL/NEW VOICES
AWARD 2013.
Eligibility in the Nigerian shortlist process is based on
the exact rules of the international competition as stated below. Contestants
should thus note that the ultimate prize money is accessible only after scaling
the Nigerian hurdle.
PEN International has set up an annual New Voices Award to
encourage new writing in the countries in which we operate and to provide a
much needed space for young and unpublished writers to submit their work. The
award will actively encourage entries from diverse linguistic regions and
communities.
Before PEN International was established in 1921, its
founder, Catharine Amy Dawson Scott, set up the Tomorrow Club as a space for
aspiring writers to network with more established writers. In 1928, Herman
Ould, International Secretary, felt strongly that it was important for PEN to
maintain focus on helping emerging writers, and so established a ‘Young PEN’
chapter.
The PEN International/New Voices Award builds on these
ideas, simultaneously reconnecting with our past and moving into the
future.
PEN/NEW VOICES AWARD:
AIMS
The first annual PEN International/New Voices Award aims to:
- encourage writers aged 18-30 to write short stories,
creative non-fiction, journalism, and poetry;
- to promote freedom of expression, literature, and the
tenets of the PEN Charter;
- foster new forms of writing appropriate to our time;
- promote translation, especially into ‘bridge’ languages
such as English, French, and
Spanish;
- provide a (much needed) space for emerging writers to
submit their work;
- help emerging writers by providing advice on how best to
work towards a career as a writer;
- to cement PEN’s profile as the world’s oldest and
pre-eminent writers’ organisation
PEN INTERNATIONAL/NEW VOICES AWARD: STRUCTURE
Details of the award’s terms of entry and judging structure
are set out below:
1) TERMS OF ENTRY
- all candidates must be over 17 & still under the age
of 30 at the time of the closing date;
- writers who have published books may not enter but those
who have existing contracts with publishers for forthcoming books may enter;
- writers who have published pamphlets work in magazines and
journals are allowed to enter;
- prose entries must be between 2,000-4,000 words;
- poetry entries may take the form of individual poems, a
sequence, or one long poem of no more than 2,500 words in total;
- writers may only submit one prose work;
- a longlist of six writers will receive feedback on their
entries from distinguished experts;
- Two winning writers, a male and a female would have their
entries sent to PEN International as Nigeria’s entry that might stand a chance
of winning the ultimate prize money
-The winning entries would be translated into English, French,
Spanish and one or two Nigerian Languages
- there will be no entry fee
2) JUDGING THE AWARD
- the award will be open to submissions from March15th to May
15th, 2013;
- the submission window will close 12 midnight on 15 May
2013 and no late entries will be considered;
- our team of judges will offer online mentorship for a
shortlist of six for not more than one year after the competition
3) GUIDELINES
- amendments cannot be made to entries after they have been
submitted, nor substitutions made;
- poems to be single-spaced and a line count noted at the
top of the first page;
- short stories to be double-spaced and a word count noted
at the top of the first page;
- the filename of online entries must be the title of the
entry and it must be either a .doc, .docx, .rtf, .wps, .pdf or .txt file;
- all entries are judged anonymously: do not include the
entrant’s name on the document, only on the application sheet;
- worldwide copyright of each entry remains with the author,
but PEN International will have the unrestricted right to publish entries in
the e-anthology, in print, on the website, and in any relevant promotional
material;
- the judges' decision is final and no individual
correspondence can be entered into;
To enter send your entry with subject as PEN NEW VOICES 2013
to Secretary General, Nigeria Pen Centre, Ropo Ewenla: firo_po@yahoo.co.uk.
PEN International celebrates literature and promotes freedom
of expression. Founded in 1921, our global community of writers now comprises
146 Centres spanning more than 100 countries. Our programmes, campaigns, events
and publications connect writers and readers for global solidarity and
co-operation. PEN International is a non-political organisation and holds
consultative status at the United Nations and UNESCO.
www.pen-international.org.
