Summer Writing Contest

All Ghanaian writers are invited to submit a short story to our first ever competition. With an entry fee of GHC 0.00 or US$0.00 or GBP 0.00, if you've had a story lying around gathering dust, you can't afford to miss this opportunity to win US$100.00 if you come in First Place!!!

YES, THE AUTHOR OF THE WINNING STORY GETS $100!!!!

Official Fiction Short Story Contest Rules:

·         This contest is open to Ghanaians living in Ghana or overseas. We expect a Ghanaian angle in the story either in the setting or in the characterization.

.     Short fiction story must be 2500 words max. (Based on a typical MS Word page, this should amount to 4-5 pages, double space, 12 pt, Times Roman). Please do not submit stories for children.

.      All entries must be in English (duh!)

·         All short fiction contest entries will be accepted between Aug 1, 2010  to Sept 15th, 2010....and we mean it. Not Sept 16th, not a week after but on SEPT 15TH. We will not open any email after this date.

·         Entry fee is FREE!!!!

·        You may enter the short fiction contest with only one story.

·         All work must be original, unpublished, and the sole property of the person submitting.

·         First  place short fiction story will be published on this website and depending on the total number of entries, a number of honorable mentions will appear on this site.

·        The shortlisted authors will be notified by 20th September 2010 and the winner announced on the 24th September 2010. The winner will be notified by email prior to publication. Please notify us if your short fiction contest entry is no longer eligible for publication.

·         Decision of the judges is final and to allow them to do an uninhibited job, we cannot divulge the names of the judges until the contest is over. However, be assured that those reading your manuscripts love books and have some experience with the business of publishing!

How to Enter?

1.    Send your short fiction contest entry (Word or RTF attachment) to ghanawrites@yahoo.com In the Subject line of your email, be sure to put the Author Last name(you) and the Title of your short fiction contest submission. Please do not put your name anywhere on the actual manuscript; this will allow us to conduct a blind assessment. The only identifier on your manuscript should be your title.

FIRST PRIZE

* US$100.00

* Publication of winning story on "Promoting Ghanaian Writing"

* Support for writing in the form of critiques, analysis and introduction to other writing contests worldwide.

* A copy of Kwei Quartey's "Wife of the Gods" Published by Simon & Shuster, USA

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

* Publication of names and titles of stories on "Promoting Ghanaian Writing"

* Support for writing in the form of critiques, analysis and introduction to other writing contests worldwide.

Welcome to "Promoting Ghanaian Writing"

Perhaps you've heard of the Commowealth Prize...or the Caine Prize...or the Penguin SA Prize for African writing. If you have, I'm hoping you've been as stunned as I have been that hardly any of the shortlisted writers are from Ghana. Which leads me to a very obvious question:

WHY?

Could it be that:

1. Ghanaians can't write?

2. Ghanaians have no idea these contests exist?

3. Ghanaians don't have the supporting resources to enable them to contest for both the prestigious prizes (as mentioned earlier) and the lesser known (e.g. online) ones.

(notice I'm trying to be clever here with my use of Ghana's flag colours! Hit yourself if you didn't notice!)

I'm inclined to go with #3 although #2 is a possibility also. Ergo, we've got to do something about it and we are.  First off, a writing contest!