Malawi Writers Union (Mawu) and FMB have raised sponsorship for the Mawu/FMB Writing competition from K280 000 to K480 000 effective this year.
Speaking in an interview, Mawu president Sambalikagwa Mvona said the new sponsorship has been arrived at to motivate more writers to participate in the competition.
“We want people to value writing and encourage them to write more. We believe with this new sponsorship, more people will join the competition,” he said.
Mawu/FMB Writing Competition started in 2005 with a sponsorship of K120 000. Stories for the competition were picked from weekly newspapers, Malawi News and Weekend Nation. The best story was awarded K100 000 and two others got K10 000 each as consolation prizes.
To promote equal chances, in 2007, organisers of the competition started to receive entries from writers across the country. This was after the sponsorship had been revised to K280 000. The top three stories got K120 000, K70 000 and K 40 000 each while two other stories earning K10 000 each as consolation prizes.
From this year to 2015, Mvona says the top three stories will receive K160 000, K80 000 and K50 000 each. However, the number and amount of consolation prizes have not changed. The president announced that the competition is on and deadline for receiving articles is September 30, 2013.
