Chika Unigwe's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing-caineprize-competitions"
Competitions & Caine Prize 2020
I love writing competitions. I run an NGO that runs one. I have judged them. I enter as many as I can. Why do I love them? Let me count the whys...
1) They are a good way to be discovered. As an isolated writer in Belgium, it was a contest I entered in that got me the attention of my first publisher, Harold Polis, (then of Manteau ) and got me my first story published in Dutch and my first novel.
2)Sometimes, I win. Who doesn't like winning? Sometimes, the win is the prestige , plus big bucks (money always helps, right?)
3)They force me to break through writer's block and write, which in itself is a win too
4)They force me to try new forms (I once entered for a SCiFi short story contest just because) and surprise myself with all the forms fiction can take and all the possibilities it provides if we are open to leaving our comfort zones
5) As a reader/judge: I've discovered so much great writing and so many new writers through their works entered in contests
So, if you're African, have had a story published anywhere, get your publishers to send it in for the Caine Prize:
http://caineprize.com/how-to-enter
1) They are a good way to be discovered. As an isolated writer in Belgium, it was a contest I entered in that got me the attention of my first publisher, Harold Polis, (then of Manteau ) and got me my first story published in Dutch and my first novel.
2)Sometimes, I win. Who doesn't like winning? Sometimes, the win is the prestige , plus big bucks (money always helps, right?)
3)They force me to break through writer's block and write, which in itself is a win too
4)They force me to try new forms (I once entered for a SCiFi short story contest just because) and surprise myself with all the forms fiction can take and all the possibilities it provides if we are open to leaving our comfort zones
5) As a reader/judge: I've discovered so much great writing and so many new writers through their works entered in contests
So, if you're African, have had a story published anywhere, get your publishers to send it in for the Caine Prize:
http://caineprize.com/how-to-enter
