Short story writing competition for Malawian University students

Pen Avenue Malawi is pleased to announce the opening of its first ever writing competition for young Malawians currently studying for their first degrees, diplomas or certificates in Universities and Colleges across Malawi.

The competition is aimed at identifying and nurturing writing talent in the country. In this first phase, the competition will only accept entries from University and College students based in Malawi. The genre is only fiction, that is, the Short Story.

Details of the competition are indicated below:


Prizes

• The best short story will go away with a cash prize of K100,000 and a six month mentorship opportunity with an established writer (to be disclosed in due course)

• Four other good stories will have its authors afforded a mentorship opportunity in which their works will be critiqued by a team of passionate and committed young writers and critics 

Rules for the competition: 

• Entries (Short stories only) must be on any theme, between 1500-4000 words and typed in standard format.

• The first page of your submission must include the title and the number of words of your story.

• All submissions must be emailed to penavenuemw@gmail.com by 11:59 pm local time on 1st November, 2016. The email subject should read "2016 Pen Avenue Malawi Short Story Competition". 

• No author identity should be present anywhere in  your short story. All author details must be included in the body of your email. They should include your full name, email address, phone number, name of your institution of higher learning, and a short biography. 

• Works published elsewhere are not accepted. This includes those published both in the print media and online platforms (websites, personal blogs etc).

• All entries must be in English. You can incorporate some local languages where the whole story shall remain comprehensible to all readers.

• Only one entry per writer is allowed.

• Entrants must be Malawian undergraduate students studying with any Malawian institution of higher learning.

• Shortlisted short stories will be posted on our blog and shared on our Facebook page. Make sure you like the page, like your story and invite your friends to like both the page and your story too. The story's engagement (likes, comments and shares) on our Blog and Facebook page will partially contribute to its success with 40% of the score where as the other 60% will come from the judges' decision. 

• The judges decision is final. 

• Pen Avenue is at liberty to disqualify a participant or withdraw an award on grounds of violation of any rules or as decided by the group on rational grounds.  

• Always be on the look out on our blog and Facebook page for further information with regards to shortlisting and any further information on the competition. 

• For any further details or questions, email us at penavenue3@blogspot.com or hit our Facebook page inbox.