A couple of months ago, the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) made a call for entries into her literary competition thus:

“The Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), in its drive to use art and literature to convey the narratives of our past, present and future to the younger generation of Nigerians, is delighted to announce a nationwide literary contest in poetry and fiction (short stories) in collaboration with some stakeholders.

Entries in both categories would be centred around the themes of patriotism, peace-building, forgiveness and peaceful coexistence targeting youths at the secondary school level.

A panel of judges will select the best 50 poems and 50 short stories for publication in two books for use in secondary schools. The best three entries in each category will be rewarded with prizes to be awarded at the one-day conference on Youths, Peace and Security where the two books will also be unveiled to the public.

The top three winners in both categories will get N250,000, N200,000 and N100,000 respectively.”

Competition guidelines

According to IPCR, there is no entry fee but please follow these contest guidelines to avoid having your entry penalised:

1. This contest is restricted to poems and short stories written in the English language and themed around patriotism, peace-building, forgiveness and peaceful coexistence targeting youths.

2. Participation is not limited to any age group or profession.

3. Submissions must be original, and previously unpublished anywhere.

4. Only one short story entry of not more than 3,000 words is allowed per contestant.

5. Only one to three poems per contestant is allowed. An entry with more than three poems will be automatically disqualified.

6. One person can put in entries in both categories but must be mindful of the rules guiding each genre.

7. All entries MUST have the author’s names, address, phone number(s), brief biography, category, title of poem/short story and poem/short story.

8. All entries MUST be sent to ipcr.poem.shortstory@gmail.com

9. Submissions for the 2019 competition must be between August 23, 2019 and midnight of November 30, 2019.

NO HARDCOPY SUBMISSIONS.

For more information please write to us at: info@ipcr.gov.ng or follow us on twitter @IpcrNigeria

Photo Credit: Pexels.com