CREATIVE WINGS SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2012

Creative Wings has launched the second edition of its short story competition, with the aim of encouraging budding African writers. The inaugural contest is now open. Deadline for submission is 31^st July, 2012.

Stories must be previously unpublished and must be the exclusive work of the entrant.

Stories must be 600 words or less.

Entry is free.

Only one submission per entrant is permitted.

Only online submissions are acceptable. Entries should be emailed to creativewingscontest2012@gmail.com. Paste story in the body of the e-mail. Use 'CreativeWings Contest' in the subject line. Entries with attachments will be disqualified.

The email must contain the entrant’s name, the title of story, and the entrant’s physical address, a brief bio of NOT more than 50 words, Date of Birth, and contact phone number.

 Simultaneous submissions are NOT acceptable.

Writers are not restricted to any theme.

Entries must be in English.

The judge will select two winners who will be given a total of 15 books.

• List of 15 Books to be Issued to First Prize Winner

1. The Dancing Bird Obinna Udenwe (autographed copy)

2. Wizard of the Crow Ngugi wa Thiong’o

3. The Abyssinian Boy Onyeka Nwelue (autographed copy)

4. Bloody Path to Freedom Chuks Okolo (autographed copy)

5. The Reader Benhard Schlinks

6. The Phoenix Chika Unigwe

7. Money Galore Amu Djoleto

8. Cemetery Road Esiaba Irobi (autographed by Publisher; Abic)

9. Songs of Enchantment Ben Okri

10. Olauda Equiano Autobiography (autographed by Publisher; Abic)

11. Beyond The Ancient Hills Celestine Awoke (autographed)

12. The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives Lola Shoneyin

13. From the Caves of Rotten Teeth A. Igoni Baret

14. Night of the Creaking Bed Toni Khan

15. Every Day is for the Thief Teju Cole

List of 5 Books to be Issued to Second Prize Winner

1. The Dancing Bird Obinna Udenwe (autographed)

2. The Other Side of the Mask Esiaba Irobi (autographed by Abic)

3. Burma Boy Biyi Bamidele

4. Waiting for an Angel Helon Habila

5. Assegai Wilbur Smith

The winning stories will also be published on Creativewritingnews.blogspot.com and bookaholicblog.blogspot.com and  

The competition will be judged by Jayne Bauling, Myne Withman and Onyeka Nwelue.

Jayne Bauling writes fiction and poetry. Her Young Adult novels have been awarded the Macmillan Writer’s Prize for Africa and the Maskew Miller Longman Literature Award. She also won the inaugural African Writing Prize for Flash Fiction with her story Settling. She was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2012. Her adult and youth short stories have been published in a number of South African anthologies. Her poetry has been broadcast on the SABC’s SAfm and published in a number of international literary journals. She has won poetry awards from SAfm and People Opposing Women Abuse. She lives in Mpumalanga Province in South Africa.

Myne Whitman is from Delta State, Nigeria, but grew up in Enugu. She is the author of bestselling romance novels, A Heart to Mend (2009) and A Love Rekindled (2011). Both books have been well received by an ever-increasing audience of both Nigerian and international readers. Myne is the founder and managing editor of Naijastories.com and serves as the fiction editor for Sentinel Nigeria. She lives in Seatle, United States of America.

Onyeka Nwelue is a novelist, short story writer, poet, filmmaker and journalist. His first novel is titled The Abyssinian Boy. His company, Blues & Hills, an arts agency specializes in the promotion of arts and music in Europe and Asia. Nwelue’s first novel is the 2009 bestseller, The Abyssinian Boy, which critics hailed as ‘out-of-the-box’. He won the 2009 TM Aluko Prize for Fiction and Ibrahim Tahir Prize for First Book. He was nominated for the Creative Artiste of the Year at the 2010 Future Awards. He is the first African to join Sandbox, the global community of young innovators under 30 years. He lives in India.

This competition is sponsored by Obinna Udenwe, a young democrat from South-East Nigeria. Obinna is also an author of: The Dancing Bird which mirrors the socio-cultural settings of the African society; and a new collection of children stories, 'Wenitem and Her Friends.'