The BN Poetry Award, founded in 2008 by Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva, a Ugandan female poet, is the first initiative that has been established to nurture, strengthen, and promote Ugandan female poets. The Award stems from a strong belief that women have some of the greatest potentials that go unnoticed and unrecognized. This award opens up more creative writing space for female poets to excel. The award is open to all Ugandan females who have not yet published their own collection of poetry (even if they have pieces variously published in journals, magazines, anthologies, etc) The first of its kind, the award was launched in December 2008, to recognize upcoming Ugandan female poets.
The BN Poetry award 2014 is now open to ALL African poets. The will receive 1,000 US Dollars.
Submissions to be received from January 6th to May 5th 2014 midday, East African Time.
Guidelines for submissions:
· It is open to ALL African poets who will not have published a full-length collection of poetry by May 2014
· Submissions should be original, in English and not more than 40 lines. Times New Roman or Arial, single-spaced and size 12. Local languages are accepted only if English translations are sent alongside them
· Send a maximum of three poems and a minimum of one poem to [email protected] as a word attachment. DO NOT include your name or contact details on the poem itself
· The subject line should read, “BNPA 2014”
· Include your name, email address, country or birth and country of permanent residence, telephone number and the titles of your poems in the body of the email
· The submissions will be accepted from January 6th to May 5th 2014
The judges
Kgafela oa Magogodi: South African poet, director and musician. He is currently completing a co-writing project for a musical stage play, The Book Of REBELATIONS . Published books include Thy Condom Come (2000) and Outspoken (2004).
Joanne Arnott: Award-winning Canadian poet and writer. Her first book of poetry, Wiles of Girlhood (1991) won the League of Canadian Poets’ Gerald Lampert Award for best first book of poetry (1992). Her newest publication of poetry is, A Night for the Lady (Ronsdale, fall 2013)
Richard Ali: Author of City of Memories, Chief Operations Officer of Parrésia Publishers Ltd and Publicity Secretary [North] of Association of Nigerian Authors. Richard is also Editor-in-Chief of the Sentinel Nigeria Magazine and was a runner-up at the 2008 John la Rose Short Story Competition.
More details on the face book page, Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation, on the blog http://bnpoetryaward.blogspot.com and website www.bnpoetryaward.co.ug