Writing Contests & Publishing Opportunities in Africa 2018

Looking for writing contests (fiction or non-fiction) or publishing you can participate in? We have curated some of the writing competitions you can take part of before the year runs out.
One of the ways to get your writing sharpened is to keep writing, reading and getting reviewed. Entering for a writing contest can help provide the necessary feedback and boost your morale especially if/when you win the competition.

Here are a few writing contests that could illuminate your path on your way to improving.

• The Short Story Day Africa Prize

This year’s submissions for the SSDA prize are open from 1st June 2018 through 31st October 2018. The winner bags a cash prize of $800 while the first and second runners up are awarded $200 and $100 respectively. Click for Details for this opportunity.

• Olive Schreiner Prize for Prose (for Southern African Countries)

The Olive Schreiner Prize for Prose is awarded for original literary work in English including novels, short stories, descriptive sketches, essays or other forms of prose where the ‘creative’ element carries more weight than purely factual or informative content.

Deadline is Monday 21st September 2018
Follow for Details on this opportunity.

• Africa Centre Artists In Residency Programme

Applications for the Africa Centre Artists In Residency Programme (AIR) are now open. All residencies are available to innovative, provocative and socially conscious visual and performance artists, composers, fiction and nonfiction writers, playwrights, poets, video/filmmakers, curators, as well as artists working in digital art forms. Each residency award has a distinct structure, set of requirements and duration. The costs of the residency and round-trip airfare are included in each residency award made.

Applications are open from August 1st to October 15th 2018.
Find out more details on this opportunity.

• Brunel international African Poetry Prize

Now in its sixth year, The Brunel International African Poetry Prize is a major annual poetry prize of £3000, aimed at the development, celebration and promotion of poetry from Africa.

This prize is open to poets who have not yet had a full-length poetry book published. Published work can however be submitted.
The 2019 prize will open for entries from October 1st to November 30th 2018.
Check here to find out the details.

• Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry

Each year, a significant African writer judges the contest. Open annually from May to October to submissions from authors and publishers.
Found out more details on this opportunity.

• The Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets

The Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poetry is awarded annually to an African poet who has not yet published a collection of poetry. If you are an unpublished poet, here’s your chance to be published with 1000 USD cash prize and book publication through the University of Nebraska Press and Amalion Press in Senegal. Deadline is 1st December. Find here in the details.

• Granta Magazine Submissions

Granta Magazine accepts submissions in fiction, nonfiction or poetry and art. There’s a small submission fee equivalent to printing and postage, for prose submissions only.
Click here for more details.

If you know more writing contests that should be added in this list, do email us or share in the comment section.