Afritondo is a new ‘media and publishing platform that aims to connect with and tell the stories of Africans and black minority populations across the globe.’ They recently announced a call for entries for their first short story prize, to be judged by South-African writer and winner of the 2017 Brittle Paper Award for Fiction Megan Ross (Chair); Kenyan writer, editor and columnist Gloria Mwaniga; and Commonwealth Prize finalist and Farafina Books editor Kelechi Njoku.

The theme of the submission is ‘love’. The deadline is December 23, 2019, 11.59pm (any time zone). The winner will receive $1,000.

According to the prize’s description on Afritondo’s website:

We are looking for stories that explore the dynamics and boundaries of love. We want to be surprised and thoroughly entertained, so feel free to play around with the theme. We only ask that you set the story wholly or partly in Africa (or a black community, real or fictional) and that you create African or black characters. A good story for this prize will offer novel insight into the theme, explore characters in refreshing and imaginative ways, and challenge the art of storytelling.

 

Submission Guidelines

1. You may only submit an entry if you meet any of the following eligibility requirements:

  • You are a citizen or national of an African country.
  • One of your parents is a national of an African country.
  • You are of black ethnicity or belong to a black minority population anywhere in the world.

For questions about eligibility, please contact [email protected].

2. Submissions must be made within the stated deadline. Any submission after the deadline will be disregarded.

3. Submissions must be in English.

4. Submissions must reflect the theme.

5. Only one submission per writer is allowed.

6. The submission, including the title, must be between 3000 and 5000 words.

7. The submission should be in Microsoft Word (doc, docx) and in the following format:

  • Double-spaced, Times New Roman or Calibri font, 12-point size
  • The title of the story should appear at the top of the first page followed by the word count. No further information is required.
  •  Every page must be numbered.

8. The author’s name or detail must not be included anywhere on the document to be uploaded. The document must contain only the title, word count, and story. All entries are judged anonymously.

9. Submission is accepted only via email. Entries should be sent to [email protected]. The subject of the email should read: Submission for Afritondo Short Story Prize 2020. The file name of the entry (i.e. the attached document) must be the title of the short story. In the body of the email tell us, briefly, about yourself, including such information as your legal name, country of residence, age, and contact details.

10. Entries must not have been previously published or shortlisted for another prize. Also, entries published or shortlisted during the judging or publishing process will be disqualified.

11. Entrants agree as a condition of entry that the prize organisers may publicise the fact that a story has been entered, longlisted, or shortlisted for the prize.

12. By submitting an entry, the author agrees to its inclusion in an anthology should it be selected by the judges, and to work with editors to get the story ready for publication.

13. By submitting an entry, the author attests that it is their original work and grants exclusive global print and digital rights to Afritondo Press Ltd should the entry be longlisted or selected for publication in the anthology. The copyright remains with the author.

14. The decisions of the judges in relation to the winning entries are final and not subject to appeal.

15. Longlisted and shortlisted writers will be expected to submit their pictures and other information necessary for publicising the prize on social and other media.

16. The winner will be expected to take part in publicity activities including social media where possible.

About the Judges

Megan Ross was born in Johannesburg in 1989. She is a writer, poet and graphic designer, and has received critical acclaim for both her short fiction and poetry. Megan is the 2017 recipient of the Brittle Paper Award for Fiction and one of the 2016 Short Story Day Africa Award winners. She is also an Iceland Writers Retreat alumnus. Her first book, a collection of poems called Milk Fever, was published by uHlanga in 2018. She lives on the Wild Coast with her partner and son.

Gloria Mwaniga Minage is a Kenyan writer, editor and high school teacher who writes literary articles for the Saturday Nation and The East African newspapers. She has authored five children’s books with Longhorn Publishers and Moran Publishers, Kenya. Gloria is a 2017 Ebedi International Residency Fellow and a Summer Literary Seminar (SLS) Nairobi Workshop Attendee. She has been shortlisted for the Writivism Short Story Competition and the Morland Writing Scholarship. Gloria also served as national coordinator of AMKA Space for Women Writers and as a 2018/2019 judge of the monthly flash fiction competition, “100WordsAfrica.” Gloria’s work has appeared in the Johannesburg Review of Books, Ebedi Review, Munyori Literary Journal, Praxis Magazine, Fresh Paint Anthology and Sundown Anthology.

Gloria is represented by Storm Literary Agency and is currently working on a young adult novel.

Kelechi Njoku’s writings have appeared on adda, Litro, Brittle Paper, and This Is Africa. He was shortlisted for the 2017 Commonwealth Short Story Prize and previously won the Writivism Short Story Prize, West Africa Region. In the last six years, he has worked with several organizations devoted to developing literature and learning on the continent—the Ake Arts and Book Festival (2014), Peripheral Vision International (2015). He has also served on the prize committee for the inaugural Dusty Manuscript Prize Nigeria (2018), and the Writivism Short Story Prize (2016 and 2017). His work has been spotlighted by The Book Banque (“9 Stories You Should Read”) and Brittle Paper (“79 notable pieces of 2017”). An alumnus of the prestigious Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop, taught by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, he will be a writer-in-residence at Black Rock, Senegal, in 2020. He lives in Lagos, where he is senior editor at Kachifo and editor at Bakwa Magazine.

For more information, click HERE.