Deadline: 29 July 2011
Renowned worldwide for featuring some of the best and brightest new talent, Wasafiri launched an annual New Writing Prize as part of its 25th anniversary celebrations in 2009. Now in its third year the competition is open to anyone worldwide who has not published a complete book. We are looking for creative submissions in one of three categories: Poetry, Fiction or Life Writing.
Simply fill in the form and send it to us with your entry and a fee of UK Sterling £6.00 if entering one category, £10.00 for two and £15.00 for three categories (see terms and conditions). Payment may be made by PayPal here. The closing date is 5pm GMT on 29 July 2011. Entrants who are visually impaired or who are prevented from typing through disability can enter work on audio CD. Download the Wasafiri New Writing Prize 2011 Application Form >> and let the words flow!
Guidelines
Renowned worldwide for featuring some of the best and brightest new talent, Wasafiri launched an annual New Writing Prize as part of its 25th anniversary celebrations in 2009. Since Wasafiri was first published in 1984, it has consistently aimed to shift the contours of established literary canons and remapped the borders of international contemporary writing, creating new imaginative spaces and publishing some of the most promising new literary voices. In the words of acclaimed author Aminatta Forna, ‘In a world which gives voice only to the few, Wasafiri comes to us like a choir of thousands singing the stories of everywhere.’
How to enter
The competition is open to anyone worldwide who has not published a complete book. We are looking for creative submissions in one of three categories: Poetry, Fiction or Life Writing. Simply fill in the entry form and send it to us with your entry and a fee of UK Sterling £6.00 if entering one category, £10.00 for two and £15.00 for three categories (see overleaf for terms and conditions). The closing date is 5pm GMT on 29 July 2011. Entrants who are visually impaired or who are prevented from typing through disability can enter work on audio CD.
Prizes
£300 will be awarded to the winner of each category and their work will be
published in Wasafiri.
Judges
Susheila Nasta MBE (Chair) Editor
of Wasafiri and Professor
of Modern Literature
at the Open University
Daljit Nagra
Critically acclaimed poet,
winner of the Forward Prize (2007)
and ACE Decibel Award (2008)
Brian Chikwava
Award-winning writer
and recipient of the
Caine Prize for
African Writing in 2004
Jackie Kay
Celebrated prose writer,
poet and playwright, awarded an MBE
for services to literature in 2006
Download application form >>
Return this form to Wasafiri, The Open University in London, 1-11 Hawley Crescent, London, NW1 8NP, UK with your entry and cheque or postal order for UK Sterling £6.00, £10.00 or £15.00, depending on the number of categories you wish to enter. You can also pay online through PayPal at www.wasafiri.org.
Cheques or postal orders should be made payable to ‘Wasafiri Ltd’. Entries submitted without payment will be disqualified. Please ensure your envelope is adequately stamped. Wasafiri will be unable to pay the difference. If some one else has written the cheque on your behalf, please ask them to write your name on the back. Mark clearly on the envelope ‘New Writing Prize’. We regret that we cannot accept submissions received after the deadline of 29 July 2011.
Conditions of Entry
1. The competition is open to any nationality and any age group.
2. Word limit is 3000 maximum.
3. Work submitted must be previously unpublished, original and in English. It should not have been submitted to any other competition.
4. Work must be typed, double-spaced, on A4 paper, single-sided only.
5. Do not write your name or provide any other form of identification on your manuscript. All submissions will be considered without the judges knowing the identity of the entrant.
6. Work will only be accepted if accompanied by an official entry form and fee payable to Wasafiri Ltd. If you require acknowledgement of receipt, entries must also be accompanied by a stamped addressed postcard.
7. We regret that manuscripts cannot be altered after submission.
8. If emailing your manuscript, please send it as a Word attachment. Do not paste it into the bottom of the email and provide details of accompanying documentation (e.g. paypal confirmation; entry form; delivery of cheque/postal order).
9. All electronic submissions will receive an acknowledgement.
10. Fee is per category: the entrant can submit a maximum of one entry per category— in the Poetry category one submission can include up to five poems.
11. Entries must be received at the offices of Wasafiri, The Open University in London, 1-11 Hawley Crescent, London, NW1 8NP, UK no later than 5pm GMT on 29 July 2011.
12. The judges’ decision is final. No correspondence or discussion concerning the judges’ decision will be entered into.
13. The copyright will remain with the winning authors. Acceptance of the prize will indicate the author’s agreement to their work being published in Wasafiri and the inclusion in a possible anthology of the best work received.
14. Wasafiri reserves the right to edit the winning entries.
15. Failure to meet the conditions of entry will mean that a submission is automatically disqualified from the competition.
16. No person may win more than one prize.
17. The competition is not open to members of the Wasafiri Board.
18. Because the prize is aimed at new writers unfortunately we are unable to accept entries from previous winners of the NWP.
19. Shortlisted authors will be notified in September 2011.
20. A list of shortlisted authors will be put on our website in October 2011 and can be posted out if requested.
21. Wasafiri reserves the right to alter the schedules in 19 and 20 above. If any alterations occur, details will be posted on the Wasafiri website.
22. Manuscripts will not be returned.
Contact Information:
For inquiries: n.a.jones@open.ac.uk
For submissions: Wasafiri, The Open University in London, 1-11 Hawley Crescent, London, NW1 8NP, UK
Website: http://www.wasafiri.org