Application is now open for all African writers that want to apply for the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing 2022 to win £10,000. The application details and other information you need to know are in this post.
Applicants of the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing 2022 are to submit their stories online through the online portal. The application has been open since 6th December and it will close on the 31st of January, 2022 at Midnight (GMT).
ABOUT THE PRIZE
The AKO Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual short story award for Africans. It is open to all Africans residing within or outside Africa, the prize is awarded by an African writer published in English for a short guy.
Successful applicants stand a chance of winning a prize worth £10,000 and the other four shortlisted candidates will be awarded £500.
AKO Caine Prize for African Writing Eligibility
Applicants must meet the following criteria to be eligible for the award:
- The story must have been published in the five years preceding the submissions deadline. For 2022 eligibility, the judges will only consider work published after 31st January 2017
- Stories less than 3,000 words or exceeding 10,000 words are not eligible for the Prize.
- Short stories must be submitted by a publisher – including publishers of physical and digital literary journals or magazines. Self-published and unpublished works are not eligible.
- Publishers must obtain consent from the writer(s) before submitting their stories for the Prize.
- Stories submitted for the Prize must have been published in English. Translated stories are eligible, provided that an English translation has been published.
- Stories that have been previously submitted for the Caine Prize are not eligible.
- Genres not eligible for entry include stories for children, factual writing, plays and autobiography/biography.
- Submissions must specify which African country the author comes from and the word count.
- Publishers are encouraged to submit multiple short stories as long as they do not submit more than one story by the same author.
N.B: Short stories that do not meet the criteria will not be considered for the prize.
HOW TO SUBMIT SHORT STORIES FOR THE AKO CAINE PRIZE FOR AFRICAN WRITING
Below is how you can submit your writing for the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing:
- Applicants are to submit each story by the publisher via the entry form on the award website.
- The submission form will become available here when the submissions window opens in December 2021
Contact Details
For any questions or queries regarding the award, please contact AKO Caine Prize for African Writing at: [email protected]
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQS):
Who is an ‘African writer’?
‘An African writer is taken to mean someone who is a national of an African country, or who has a parent who is African by birth or nationality
How do I apply?
Submit your entry via our online submission portal – details of which will be released during our submissions period
When should I apply?
Submissions for the 2022 AKO Caine Prize award open on the 6th of December 2021 and close on 31st January 2022 at midnight (GMT)
Who can submit stories for the Prize?
Works entered by the writers of the submitted stories are ineligible.
Only short stories published by third-party organisations are eligible for the AKO Caine Prize. Self-published and unpublished works are not eligible
Short stories must be submitted by a publisher. We also welcome submissions from physical and online literary journals and magazines
What should the publisher’s letter include?
Publishers are required to provide:
Name of the writer(s).
Title of the story or stories being submitted.
Word count of each story,
The qualifying nationality of the writer(s)
The date of publication of the story or stories.
Confirmation of consent from the writer(s) whose stories are being submitted for the Prize.
Can I submit unpublished or self-published work?
Unpublished works are not eligible for the Prize.
For the avoidance of doubt, stories self-published on mass self-publishing platforms – (WattPad, author-me.com, Lulu and Amazon Kindle) – are not eligible for the prize.
Are works published in online journals eligible?
The Prize accepts work published by journals in print and online, as well as work published in short story collections and anthologies. If you have any doubt about whether your work is eligible, please send an email to [email protected], and we will be happy to assist you
Do you accept e-books or digital versions of entries?
We accept digital submissions from publishers – including literary journals and magazines.
What if my story is not in English?
Works translated into English from other languages are eligible, provided they have been published in English translation. Should such a work win, the prize is split between the translator and the original language author along the following lines: 70% of the prize to the author, and 30% to the translator. Where the original work is by a non-living author the prize is split into equal halves between the translator and the author’s estate.
Does my story have to be fictional?
Yes. Only fictional short stories are eligible for AKO Caine Prize for African Writing.
Works not eligible for entry include: stories for children, factual writing, plays, biography, unpublished work, short stores shorter than 3,000 words or longer than 10,000 words
How long should my story be?
The minimum length of each submitted short story is 3000 and the maximum length is 10,000 words
Can I submit more than one story?
Publishers are welcome to submit multiple stories, but the judges will only consider one work per writer in any given year.
If different publishers submit multiple stories from the same writer, we will consult the author directly to decide which story to present to the judges.
If my story was submitted for a previous Prize but was not selected for the shortlist, can I enter it again?
Stories may only be entered for consideration in the Caine Prize once. Unfortunately, this means that you may not re-submit a story for consideration, even if it was not selected for the shortlist.
You are of course encouraged to submit a different story, as long as it adheres to our eligibility criteria.
Permissions
The publisher agrees by submitting an entry to the AKO Caine Prize that if the story is shortlisted, non-exclusive, non-commercial permission in perpetuity is given with the consent of the author to reproduce the story in the Caine Prize anthologies in digital, print and audio format.
Shortlisting and Expectations
The winner and shortlisted writers will be invited to participate in events in Africa, London and elsewhere should resource and circumstances permit. In these cases, there will be a travel award granted to each of the shortlisted candidates
By submitting an entry to the AKO Caine Prize, the publisher gives non-exclusive, non-commercial permission in perpetuity for the Prize to reproduce the story in the AKO Caine Prize anthology in print, the digital and audio format should the story be shortlisted. This permission is given with the consent of the author
By consenting to their stories being submitted for the Prize, the shortlisted writers agree to take part in AKO Caine Prize events, including but not limited to in-person and online panel discussions, interviews, readings, podcast recordings and the final award ceremony.
The Prize will provide a separate letter detailing terms of an agreement to the shortlisted writers.
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