Call for Submission: Writivism Literary Prizes

The Center for African Cultural Excellence promotes contemporary African ideas through the arts and culture, specifically the Writivism Literary Initiative, which runs two literary prizes, coordinates an online mentoring programme, publishes annual anthologies, and curates an annual literary festival in Kampala (with outreach activities for schools, hospitals and markets), in collaboration with established writers, publishers, festivals, blogs, universities, nonprofits, philanthropists, podcasts, media outlets and other players in the African literary and arts community.
The Writivism Short Story and Koffi Addo Nonfiction prizes are awarded annually to emerging writers living in an African country, who have not yet published a single-authored book of creative writing.
Each winner:
  • takes home USD $500,
  • attends a fully funded one-month writing (editing) residency at Stellenbosch University,
  • publishes their debut book with Black Letter Media,
  • is funded to attend the annual Writivism literary festival in Kampala,
  • publishes their winning story in the Writivism annual anthology, and
  • participates in the annual two-month online Writivism mentoring programme. 

Each shortlisted writer:


  • takes home USD $150,
  • is funded to attend the annual Writivism literary festival in Kampala,
  • publishes their shortlisted story in the Writivism annual anthology, and
  • participates in the annual two-month online Writivism mentoring programme. 

JOIN US FOR MORE ON:
or
or Follow us on WhatsApp Channel

Each longlisted writer: 


  • publishes their longlisted story in the Writivism annual anthology
  • participates in the annual two-month online Writivism mentoring programme. 
The longlists of ten stories for each prize will be announced on March 1, 2019, followed by online mentoring (March 1 – April 30, 2019), shortlists of three stories for each prize announced on May 1, 2019, and the annual Writivism Literary Festival where the winners will be announced and the annual anthology unveiled, will take place between August 15 – 17, 2019.

Eligibility


There is no entry fee to the prizes. There are no themes for the prizes. 
The Writivism Short Story and Koffi Addo Prizes only accept hitherto “unpublished” entries from writers living in an African country, who have not published a single-authored book by August of the prize year. This includes self-publishing, even if only on one’s blog or social media micro-site, and all forms of creative work.
The age and citizenship of the emerging writer does not matter, they consider the nationality of the writer and residence in an African country during the prize year. In the instance that one’s story is shortlisted, or that they win a prize, they are only able to fund travel from an African country, to Kampala for the festival, and to Stellenbosch for the residency.
At the moment, they consider only works in the English language, and only accept translated work (into English) where the author and translator are the same person. In other words, submit a translated entry only when it is your own original composition in its first language, and you translated yourself, to English.
Current staff, volunteers, and partners of the Writivism Literary Initiative are not eligible for the prizes.
The Entry Manuscript

  • The story should be at least 2500 words, and maximum 3500 words.
  • The author’s name should not appear anywhere on the manuscript.
  • The manuscript should include a title page and word length of the entry, without the author’s personal details like name, address, email address, and country of origin.
  • Every writer can submit only one entry for each prize. A double submission to both the short story and nonfiction prizes is encouraged, but strictly only one entry for each.
  • All submissions must be made using this form. All information that we need will be asked for on the form.
  • The manuscript must be in Microsoft Word or Rich Text format (NO PDFs), typed in Times New Roman font, size 12 point, double-spaced.


There is no entry fee to the prizes. There are no themes for the prizes. 

Join WhatsApp Groups

Join any of these WhatsApp Groups to receive more jobs and other opportunities

You can also Join our Telegram Group here.

> Check your mailbox or spam to confirm.

DISCLAIMER: Do not pay or release sensitive financial details to any organizer/recruiter unless futher verified from your end.

Residency and Publication of debut manuscript


  • Submission to the prizes is built on the assumption that the entrant is working on a manuscript that we anticipate will be further developed during the one-month residency at Stellenbosch University, and published by Black Letter Media should they win.
  • They therefore expect, and require winners to have a complete draft of a manuscript within one month of winning the prize, so that arrangements for the writing (editing) residency can commence soon.
  • They are flexible and allow for a period of maximum two and five years after winning the prize to take up the residency and publishing opportunity respectively.
  • Theyrequire that the publishing rights for the debut manuscript of a winner of our prizes are by the fact of submission, offered to our publishing partner.
  • Where the publishing partner deems that a manuscript does not require substantial development, a winner’s work can be published without attending the residency.
Click here for more information and how to submit.

Recommended For You

Got a question/Suggestion? Let's talk!