The National Arts Festival is thrilled to announce the launch of the “Short Sharp Stories Award” for South African short-story fiction. An anthology of selected stories will be published annually and the theme will differ from year to year.
The winning stories, selected from the stories to be published, by a panel of independent judges, will be announced at an annual launch event at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.
It is the aim of this new award to encourage, support, and showcase established and emerging South African writing talent.
The first volume, scheduled for publication in July 2013, will be devoted to crime-thriller fiction. At least twenty stories will be published in what will be an exciting home-grown collection.
Internationally acclaimed crime-fiction author Deon Meyer will write the foreword to this first anthology.
The only proviso is that the story must be set in South Africa – from the dusty streets of the Karoo in summer, to the slopes of a rain battered Table Mountain, from Durban’s beaches to the derelict streets of inner Jozi, the diversity of setting is as exciting as the diversity of voice which South Africa has to offer.
FULL RULES FOR CRIME FICTION ANTHOLOGY
- The competition is open to South African citizens and residents of South Africa, who are 21 years of age and older
- Stories must be previously unpublished fiction
- Stories must be written in English
- Stories are to be set in South Africa
- Stories are to be between 3000 and 5000 words in length (which will enable submission to the Caine Prize)
- Only one story per author is to be considered in any one year
- The story must fall within the bounds of the crime-thriller genre, which is to say that a crime, or the theme of crime, must be central to the story.
- A cash prize of R20 000 (twenty thousand rand) will be awarded for BEST STORY
- A cash prize of R5000 (five thousand rand) will be awarded for MOST ORIGINAL STORY
- A cash prize of R5000 (five thousand rand) will be awarded for MOST THRILLING STORY
- A cash prize of R5000 (five thousand Rand) will be awarded for BEST NEW VOICE
- Selected writers will be invited to read at, and to participate in events at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in 2013. Transport and accommodation will be paid for winning writers, provided they are resident in South Africa.
- Copyright of stories will remain with the writers, although writers may be requested to publish in partnering online and print media.
- An independent panel of judges will choose the winning stories from the short-list of twenty-five stories
- While under consideration stories are not to be submitted elsewhere
- Each entry must be accompanied with a signed entry form
- Entries may not be submitted under pseudonyms
- Short-listed writers will be notified by email by 31 March 2013.
- Authors whose stories are selected will be expected to submit a good quality head and shoulders photograph suitable for publication in the book.
- The judge’s decisions will be final.
HOW TO ENTER
- Submissions should be accompanied by the signed declaration which you can download here.
- Stories are preferably to be set in 11 point, Times Roman, at one and half line spacing.
- Entries should be sent as a file attachment in one of the following file formats: PDF (.pdf), Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or Rich Text Format (.rtf).
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For queries/ submissions: enter@shortsharpstories.com
Website: http://www.shortsharpstories.com
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