Sunday Submissions: ‘Women of Egypt’ Writing Contest for Children
Women of Egypt has announced their first-ever “Writing Contest for Egyptian Children,” set to open to submissions on January 15, 2019:
According to organizers, “The goal of the contest is to discover and celebrate children’s creative writing, in English or Arabic.”
They write:
We aspire to get Egyptian children excited about reading and writing by encouraging them to realize that no matter what their background, education or lack thereof, their imagination matters.
Stories are judged anonymously. We want to hear what kids want to write about, the stories they want to tell us.
The contest deadline is midnight Cairo time February 15, 2019, with results to be announced in May 2019 and winning entries published in July 2019. Winning stories will be published in e-books, separated by age group. Winning stories will be judged on originality, plot, characterization, language, and overall enjoyment.
The age group 3 – 5 years must have minimum 5 words and maximum 100 words. The age group 6 – 11 years must have minimum 100 words and maximum 600 words. The age group 12 – 16 years must have minimum 600 words and maximum 1500 words.
In each language, there will be nine winners, three for each age group.
There will be six judges for the Arabic stories: author Samah Abou Bakr; author and translator Mona El-Namoury; author and translator Zeinab Mobarak; author and translator Rania Amin; author Myriam Rizkallah; and author and translator Dina El-Mahdy. There are three judges for the English: ArabLit’s M. Lynx Qualey; author Karen Leggett; and author and editor Alexandra Kinias.
Those who are interested should note that the contest is open to Egyptian children all over the world between the ages of 3 and 16, but that only single-author stories in English or Arabic will qualify — not co-authored stories.
More about how to enter on January 15, 2019 over at the ArabKidLitNow! and Women of Egypt websites.