Deadline: May 26, 2017 12:00 pm (noon) WAT.
The U.S. Embassy Abuja sponsors this year’s World Environment Day Writing Contest to promote environmental awareness and literacy. Open to amateur, unpublished writers, submit an original short story to enter. Your entry should be a-1,500-3,500 word piece on the theme of “Connecting People to Nature.”
You must be 18-35 years old and a resident of Nigeria to be eligible. Please note that U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents are not eligible.
Submission Guidelines
Email your original short story as a Microsoft Word doc to CulturalAbuja@state.gov, the subject “[Name of author] Short Story Contest Submission.” And, include your email and telephone number and date of birth in the body of the email.
Do not submit entries that contain obscenity, explicit sexual material, profanity, violence, etc. Furthermore, ensure your story conforms to local law and civil discourse. Do not submit a story that contains any element of someone else’s copyright, intellectual property or proprietary rights. However, the content sponsor will accept the use of licensed materials.
Judging begins on May 29 and ends on June 2, 2017. The contest jury consists of three U.S. Embassy staff members and two professional Nigerian writers. The judges will score the submissions on organization, grammar, creativity, and use of literary devices. And, the entry with the highest score wins.
The winner will receive a Kindle device with one-year internet subscription on a network with nationwide coverage. Also, the winner gets a 24-month Kindle Unlimited Subscription. And the U.S. Mission will publish winning story in an upcoming edition of “Crossroads.”
In addition, the second prize winner will receive a 24-month Kindle Unlimited subscription and publication on the U.S. Embassy website. While the third prize winner will receive a 12-month Kindle Unlimited Subscription and a feature on the website also.
Especially relevant, the contest sponsor will contact the winners and finalists via the e-mail address provided. Then, winners have to confirm the acceptance of the prize in an email reply within three calendar days. So, if it doesn’t receive the acceptance, the jury may select an alternative winner.
Finally, for more information, check out the World Environment Day Short Story Writing Contest page.