Benue Prize Short Story Contest 2020

THE BENUE PRIZE FOR LITERATURE [The Lockdown edition]

Purpose of Establishment.
There is an urgent need to encourage young ones to read and write more, to build literary excellence for national development. It is on the above premise that the Benue Prize for Literature was established.
The prize was initiated by Comrade Akpanga Ochoche, bestselling author of the much celebrated book: The Idoma Nativeland: Origin, Culture, Tradition & Politics
The Benue Prize is organized in conjunction with The Genius Initiative and supported by AfroWriter's team

Eligibility
Participation in this maiden edition is limited to two categories namely:
Undergraduates and
Secondary School students (JSS 3 - SS 3).

You must not be a writer before you can participate, once you're interested. Enjoy!
In future, the contest will be open to other categories of writers/budding writers. Changes will be communicated in due time.

Theme: The Great lockdown 2020
Stories may imbibe any or more of the following attributes: love, pain, hope,  victory, climate change awareness, motherhood and/or your experience in the lockdown. Remember! All works, whether fiction or nonfiction must be creatively written.

Prize Benefits: Total Cash Prize – N50,000
Winner - N30,000 + Award plaque
Consolation prizes:
1st to 4th runner up - N5,000 each
Top 20 Stories to be featured in an anthology [Royalty will be paid to contributors upon commercialization]

CONTEST RULES/TERMS
The Contest is Open to Nigerians in these two categories: secondary school students & undergraduates of universities/tertiary institutions situated in Nigeria.
ALL JUDGING WILL BE DONE BY QUALIFIED EDUCATIONISTS ONLY
NO ENTRY FEE IS REQUIRED.
ENTRANTS RETAIN CREDIT TO THEIR WORK BUT THE PRIZE RESERVES THE RIGHT OF PUBLICATION OF ALL WORKS SUBMITTED AND TO PAY ROYALTIES UPON COMMERCIALIZATION OF PUBLISHED WORKS.
ENTRIES ARE TO BE SUBMITTED IN SOFT COPIES.

Length of work: Your short story may be one page or more but not more than three (3) standard Microsoft Word pages.
Font size 14, font style: Times New Romans, Paragraph spacing: 1.15
Type of Writing: Short Story [Fiction or creative nonfiction]
Stories may be entirely fiction or  based on true events but must be creatively written.
Short story must be written in English and submitted as a Microsoft word document

The file name of your work should be YOUR NAME AND LOCATION; in other words, save your document with your name and location before uploading to your email.

By submitting to the Contest, the entrant agrees to abide by all Contest rules.
All entries must be original works by the entrant, in English. Plagiarism, which includes the use of third-party poetry, story, song lyrics, characters or another person’s universe, without written permission, will result in disqualification. Excessive violence or sex, determined by the judges, will result in disqualification. Entries may not have been previously published in professional media.
To be eligible, entries must be a short story of not more than 3 standard Microsoft word pages.
All entries must be submitted in soft copies through our email benueprizemakurdi@gmail.com

The Contest is open only to new writers - those who have not professionally published one novel may participate.

Each entry must have a cover page with the title of the work, the author’s legal name, a pen name if applicable, address, Name of school, current class, telephone number, e-mail address. All Entries must be submitted electronically through our emails. Cover page is not counted as part of the three page requirement.
The Contest started in May,  and submission of stories ends July 31st.
Late entries shall not be entertained, an  entry must be received electronically no later than midnight on the last day of submission on 31st  July 2020
Each entrant may submit only one manuscript per annual edition of the contest. A winning work from previous year (s) must not be resubmitted, if discovered it will attract disqualification.
Once an entry is submitted, it is final.  No revisions are accepted. DO NOT SUBMIT TWICE.
Entries will be judged by professionals. The decision of the judges are final and binding.
A progressive shortlist of names of Authors of top entries will be published on our blog and other relevant spaces such as our Facebook page.

The organizers reserve the right to change or halt all proceedings as regards this contest as deemed necessary.
To submit your entry electronically, send to our email on benueprizemakurdi@gmail.com
SUBJECT OF EMAIL should be Entrant's name and Location. E.g. Dooshima Oche Abuja


Because of the great volume of submissions we expect to receive and the fact that judges are volunteers with full-time responsibilities elsewhere, it is important that you submit your entry as early as possible.


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