Written by Michelle Gonsalves
THE Walter Rodney Foundation has launched its inaugural Walter Rodney Awards for Creative Writing (short story and poetry competition), which will recognize and award the creative works of current University of Guyana (UG) students, or those who have graduated within the past three years and are currently living in Guyana.

The Walter Rodney Awards is a non-profit, non-commercial project which seeks to improve lives and build capacity through scholarship and programmes which promote education, health, and human development from a social justice perspective.

Like all competitions, rules and regulations apply. All entries must be original, unpublished works of the applicant in prose (2000 words or less) or poetry (a maximum of 60 lines). There is no restriction on the subject matter of the writing, i.e. writers are free to choose whatever themes/topics/subjects they wish.

Award Values: The winner of each category will receive a cash prize of Gy$100,000., while the runner-up will receive Gy$50,000. Up to six ‘Special Mention’ awards, each worth Gy$15,000, will be given to writers of merit and promise from each category.

Writers are invited to submit one entry only, and a writer cannot submit for both categories. The entries must be submitted via email to walterodneylegacy@gmail.com with the subject heading: Walter Rodney Creative Writing Award – Short Story or Walter Rodney Creative Writing Award – Poetry, as appropriate for the type of submission.
Name, address, year of study or graduation, email address, telephone and any required contact details must be placed in the body of the email. www.walterrodneyfoundation.org walterrodneyfoundation@gmail.com

By submitting an entry, the writer agrees to all terms and conditions of the competition.

Entries must be submitted on or before midnight of February 15, 2014. Entries will not be accepted after this date and time.

Submissions will be not returned, and the Walter Rodney Foundation has ongoing permission to publish the works of all award winners in any format that the WRF determines.

Copyright will remain at all times with the writers. Apart from publication by the Walter Rodney Foundation, writers are also free to publish elsewhere.

A total of 500 copies of the winners’ entries would be published. Twenty copies would be given to each prize winner, while the remaining copies would be donated to schools and libraries in Guyana.

Winners agree to participate in publicity events in connection with the competition.

Winners of the inaugural competition would be notified in March 2014, in conjunction with or at the 11th Annual Walter Rodney Symposium.

Judges will be provided by the Walter Rodney Foundation, and would include a minimum 3-judge panel; pre-judges may be used to short-list the entries, depending on volume. The decision of the competition judges will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into.

Winners would be notified at the email addresses stated in their entries.
THE late Dr. Walter Rodney is recognized as one of the most brilliant minds the Caribbean has ever produced. During his lifetime, he was a Pan-Africanist, historian, educator and political activist who spoke about research, scholarship and creative writing. He noted that even in challenging times, great literature has been produced.