Published in The Post, Cameroon
EduART Launches 2nd Edition Of Awards For Literature
Friday, January 08, 2010
By Azore Opio
EduART, a US-based corporation, has launched its second edition of awards for Cameroonian Literature, written in English by Cameroonians and published in Cameroon or any other African country. This edition will carry a cash prize of FCFA 200,000 each for the three literary genres; novel, drama and poetry.
Competitors are required to submit three copies each of any works besides fulfilling the following criteria; there is no restriction on setting, theme or mode. EduArt accepts any fictional work which falls in any of the categories below: fiction (novel or collection of short stories) drama and collection of poetry. Non-fiction books are not eligible for these Awards.
To be eligible for the 2010 award, the work must have been written by a citizen of Cameroon; must have been published in Cameroon or any other African Country; must be of a reasonable length; must have been first published between 1st January 2008 and 31 December 2009; the author must be alive on the closing date for entries; the entry must be originally written in English (works translated from other languages are not eligible) the book (s) should have been published with an adult readership in mind. For a collection of short stories or plays to be eligible, at least half of the short stories or plays in the collection must have been published after January 1, 2002.
Furthermore, entries must be made by the author and or copy right holder; self published works are eligible given the dearth of publishing houses in the Cameroon Anglophone territory. To encourage more submissions, publishers or writers may submit up to three books not limited to any category. Where publishers or copyright holders are submitting works, they must obtain the author's consent before submitting her/his work (s). This written consent must accompany the application form.
To enter a book for the competition, send a completed Registration form and 3 copies of the book through ESSICO Express mail services to:
EduArt Awards for Literature 2010
c/oAmity law firm
P. O. Box 90, Buea
Southwest Region
Republic of Cameroon
The deadline for submission is May 15, 2010.
The maiden edition of EduART Awards for Literature; the Victor E. Musinga Award for Drama,
Jane and Rufus Blanshard Award for fiction and Bate Besong Award for Poetry, was launched in July, 2008. It was highly contested and the winner was John Ngong Kum for his poetry collection, "Walls of Agony". The chief judge was renowned poet and Distinguished Professor, Tanure Ojaide of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
According to Dr. Joyce Ashuntantang, Founder and CEO of EduART Inc., this organization seeks to use both creative and performing arts to educate, enrich and entertain both Africans on the continent and African immigrants in the USA on varied social and economic developmental issues in order to increase a productive lifestyle. EduArt will also use these artistic media to educate non-Africans on African values, cultural heritage and social lifestyle to facilitate
I was hoping the next EduArts awards edition would include unpublished works from growing artist.
The way things work in Cameroon are not particularly encouraging for younger artists. I was hoping that this could be an arena for many of these young people to be heard.
Posted by: Tabi | November 30, 2010 at 07:15 AM
This is certainly something to think about. We at EduArt have take note.
Posted by: joyce Ashuntantang | December 06, 2010 at 02:26 PM