Poetry Competition Announcement: UNODA Poetry for Peace contest

I've only discovered this poetry competition now. There are four days for entry and voting. Please read the announcement below:

A social media Poetry for Peace contest is being held from 15th September - 14th October to share messages of peace.

Many atomic bomb survivors, called HIBAKUSHA (hi-ba-coo-sha), have dedicated their lives to peace. Although the average hibakusha is now 73 years old, they continue to work for nuclear disarmament by sharing, their first-hand accounts of the horrific effects of nuclear weapons. Take this valuable opportunity to listen to hibakusha testimonies and participate in the "Poetry for Peace" contest.

What is the "Poetry for Peace" contest?

This poetry contest is a platform to share your thoughts and feelings about the hibakusha testimonies. In their own voices, hibakusha have recorded their testimonies for you and future generations to hear. To take part in the contest, follow the simple steps below:

1. Listen to a hibakusha story:
   • At the UN Cyber Schoolbus
   • From the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Memorial Halls
   • From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
2. Based on the account you heard, share your feelings through verse. It can be a haiku, a sonnet, or anything in between.
3. Submit your poem for peace via email sent to unoda-web@un.org with "Poems for Peace" in the subject line. Selected poems will be posted on the UN website, with links to those poems on the International Day of Peace Facebook Page.
4. Visit the posted poems through the International Day of Peace Facebook Page and vote by clicking "like" next to the poems that move you.

THREE winners will be selected among those with the most "likes" by a panel of judges from the United Nations and the Japanese Government. Their names will be read out in a commemorative event during Disarmament Week in October 2011. They will also be announced on the Facebook page and on the UN website.

Good luck to all who  intend to enter.

FWoWA

Call for submissions: The Writers Project of Ghana

The Writers Project of Ghana is calling for submission toward two anthologies of Ghanaian writing to be published in 2012--one anthology of poetry and another of short stories.


Submission deadline is 30th September, 2011.


Details
~Poetry: Send in five poems on any theme to poetry@writersprojectghana.com. Maximum length of any poem is 120 lines.
~ Short Stories: Send up to two short stories between 400 – 5,000 words, on any theme to story@writersprojectghana.com.

*The target readership for these anthologies is young adults and older.
*The language of choice is English, but works in other Ghanaian languages are welcome.
*E-mail submissions can be made as attachments or as text within the e-mail.
*All submissions must be of original, previously unpublished writing.


Enquiries: info@writersprojectghana.com.

The 2011 Anthology of Poetry, look where you have gone to sit, is available for purchase at the following places:

• EPP bookshops
• University of Ghana Bookshop, Legon
• Citi FM, Adabraka
• All Writers Project Programmes

Check out the original announcement here.

Best of luck,

FWOWA

Announcing the AfRo Writing Competition

Remember the call for submissions post for Africana Pocketbooks in July? (if you don't remember, you can click here). There's more good news where that came from. 

Africana Pocketbooks (Ghana) has launched a romance writing competition, dubbed the AfRo Writing competition (AfRo was coined from Africana Romance), with the objective of producing Ghanaian romance novels featuring locations, heroes, heroines and storylines that reflect contemporary Ghana.

The competition will run on Facebook through an interactive process where writers, readers and friends can contribute to the creative process.

If you're already polishing your manuscript in your head, then keep reading; it gets better:

COMPETITION DETAILS

• The competition runs from 1st September, 2011 – 1stDecember, 2011.
• There will be three stages of the competition.
• Stories entered in the competition must be completed by 1st December, 2011, as the winner will be expected to submit a full manuscript at the end of the competition.
• To enter the competition, leave comments or ‘like’ any entries, please join the Afro Romance Writing Competition Facebook group.

STAGE 1: Synopsis: 1 Sept. – 22 Sept., 2011

• Post a short synopsis of for your romance on AfRo’s Facebook page by using the "create doc" function. Synopsis shall not exceed 1000 words, and should cover the entire story including the end (no cliffhangers or teasers, please). Remember: Keep it simple.
• Entries will be subjected to peer reviews in an open, creative process taking place on Facebook.
• The process will be overseen and moderated by representatives of Africana Pocketbooks.
• On 22nd September, the editorial panel will select ten (10) synopses that will go through to Stage 2.
• All ten winners will get feedback on their synopses.

STAGE 2: Get writing: 30 September – 20 October, 2011

• The ten winners will enter Stage 2 of the competition by uploading the first chapters of their novel on AfRo’s Facebook page, using the "create doc" function. Chapters should not exceed 3000 words.
• Entries will be subjected to peer reviews in an open, creative process taking place on Facebook.
• The process will be overseen and moderated by representative of Africana Pocketbooks.
• On 20th October, the editorial panel will select five (5) winners who will go through to Stage 3 of the competition.
• All five winners will get feedback on their sample chapters.

STAGE 3: Get serious: 28 October – 18 November, 2011

• The five winners will enter Stage 3 of the competition by uploading the next three chapters of their novel on AfRo’s Facebook page. The chapters should be posted one at a time, one week apart, i.e.:
• Chapter two must be posted between 28th October and 3rdNovember
• Chapter three must be posted between 4th and 10thNovember
• Chapter four must be posted between 11th and 31stNovember

• Chapters should not exceed 3000 words each.
• The samples will be subjected to peer reviews in an open, creative process taking place on Facebook.
• The process will be overseen and moderated by representatives of Africana Pocketbooks.

The Winner of the AfRo competition will be announced on 1stDecember, 2011.

THE PRIZE

The overall winner will enter into an editorial process with Africana Pocketbooks and our editor, which will result in a contract including full editorial process, publishing and printing of at least 10,000 copies, and promotion in Ghana. The finished title will be scheduled for publication in 2012.

The two runners-up will get detailed feedback on their entries with the aim of making them eligible for future publication.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE COMPETITION

• Eligibility: The competition is open to Ghanaian writers, or writers resident in Ghana
• Story settings: Stories must be set in Ghana and feature Ghanaian locations, heroes and heroines.
• Guidelines: Submission must adhere to the Africana Romance (AfRo) writing guidelines.
• Stories must not have been submitted earlier to any other publishing houses

Good luck to all

FWoWA

Cassava Republic Press calling for submissions

Cassava Republic Press is a Nigerian-based publisher 'obsessed with changing the way the world thinks about African fiction'. The publish high quality, affordable fiction, non-fiction  and children’s books that inspire young readers to develop a love of books from an early age. Non-fiction focuses on socio-cultural and historical events.

They also organise writing workshops and school writers-in-residence programmes under their RAW (Reading And Writing) Initiative. Cassava Republic Press was listed as one of the top ten brands to look out for in 2009 by the design bible Monocle Magazine.

And the good news! They are accepting submissions. But there's a little catch. They accept submission only two times a year: January and August. Submissions received outside of these months will not be considered. So you have twenty-six days to polish your manuscripts and submit...or wait four months!

They accept submissions by email only. Any hard copy submissions will not be considered.

What to submit:

For fiction, send a 500-word synopsis with three sample chapters to editor@cassavarepublic.biz.

For non-fiction, include a cover letter in your email indicating the subject and your qualifications. 

Sample chapters must sent as a word attachment saved in the following way: date of submission(dd.mm.yy).surname.firstname.book title. [E.g: 02.09.09.Yinka.Allen.To PlayWithFire.doc]. Your name should appear only on the title page, and nowhere else in the manuscript.

The subject of the email should be: Cassava Submission: [Author’s name], [book title].

[E.g.: Cassava Submission: Yinka Ishmail, The Quiet Sisters]

All submissions are logged and read chronologically. 

Cassava Republic is based in Abuja, Nigeria. For more information, visit their website or 'like' them on Facebook or 'follow' then on Twitter @CassavaRepublic.

Don't say I didn't tell you!

Cheers

FWoWA

Introducing AFRICANA Pocketbooks

If you've been following the FWoWA group page on Facebook, then you've probably already heard about them. AFRICANA is a publishing house that produces competitively-priced, popular pocketbooks for the West African mass market.

Africana concentrates on current African events, biographies on inspirational stars and leaders, African history and politics, self-help, romances and popular fiction.

And here’s the good news! Africana is currently accepting submissions from African authors and authors relevant to African readers. They are looking for good quality stories, particularly romance and crime, between 30,000 and 50,000 words. Submit to info@africanapublishing.com. They will only give feedback on publishable manu­scripts.

For more information visit them on their website, Facebook page or blog (in Danish).

Cheers

FWoWA