52 entries for Peer Gynt Literary Award
Malawi Writers Union (Mawu) has said it is overwhelmed by the response from the public to the on-going Peer Gynt Literary Award writing competition.
Mawu president Sambalikagwa Mvona said this on Wednesday morning during a special event to unveil the articles submitted for the competition at the union’s secretariat in Blantyre.
“We are very overwhelmed. We expected to receive less than 30 entries, but we have received 52. This is good news to us because we only gave them six months. It shows there is passion to write among Malawians,” he said.
Mvona said three judges Kingsley Jika, Hoffman Ayipira and Maureen Mlenga will assess the 52 entries to produce the best 12 that will also face another team of three judges composed of Jack Mapanje, James Ng’ombe and Ellen Banda Aaku to identify the best three.
Each set of judges has been given 45 days. Among many others, the judges will look for originality, language, imagination, style, creativity, suspense and relevance of issues to today’s society.
According to Mvona, the winners will be announced at Bingu International Conference Centre in Lilongwe on September 8 2013.
The best three articles will be published into novels with funding from the Norwegian Embassy. First, second and third articles will receive K500 000 (about $1 250), K300 000 (about $750) and K200 000 (about $500) respectively. Three other articles will get K50 000 (about 4125) cash as consolation prizes.
