ÀTẸ́LẸWỌ́ Cultural Initiative was founded on the 1st of June, 2017 as a response to the myriads of challenges and threats facing the preservation and survival of the Yorùbá culture and language. Apart from the fact that most people nowadays cannot even read in their indigenous African languages, there is also a greater concern as regards the waning presence of quality literature materials in these languages. And this has no doubt impeded our ability to sufficiently and originally contribute to global discussions and solutions.
As an initiative, ÀTẸ́LẸWỌ́ is dedicated to the reviving and repositioning of the Yorùbá culture with the mission to:
– Provide a platform where students and young people can get engaged with the dynamics of the Yorùbá culture through competitions, lectures, dialogues and regular meetups.
– Provide a platform for the documentation and preservation of Yorùbá ancient knowledge, culture and language in keeping pace with technological advancement.
– Rekindle people’s interest in Yorùbá literature by organising readings, making Yorùbá literature available for purchase and publishing new voices in the Yorùbá Language.
In line with our goals and objectives, ÀTẸ́LẸWỌ́ has decided to create an annual prize tagged “ÀTẸ́LẸWỌ́ PRIZE FOR YORÙBÁ LITERATURE” for previously unpublished writers writing in Yorùbá language and the prize accommodates all kinds of literature (Poetry, Drama and Prose). Some of the problems we currently face with respect to Yorùbá literature are accessibility, unfavourable publishing conditions for young writers, lack of reasonable appreciation, promotion and motivation for Yorùbá literature authors, and we hope that we can begin to address these challenges with the institution of this annual prize. In all, our dream is reconnect the younger Yorùbá population to the dying world of Yorùbá literature thereby reawakening their consciousness about their cultural heritage while unlocking the economic opportunites of this sector.
Guidelines:
Those interested in submitting for this prize must adhere to the following guidelines:
1. The prize is only open to writers who haven’t published a full lenght book written in Yorùbá as at the time of this prize. This means that submitted works must not have been previously published anywhere, whether in physical book format, social media platforms or any digital book platform.
2. Writers interested in submitting for the prize must be between the ages of 18 to 40 years of age.
3. All entries must be properly tone-marked with correct diacrititcs. See here for suggestions of tools and apps to help you.
4. Writers are required to send in their manuscripts in a Microsoft Word document format ONLY and each work must be between 50 to 80 pages. Entries must be in Time News Roman and font size 12 with 1.5 spacing.
5. The first 3 pages of the submission should contain personal information about the author: Name, Full Address, Phone Number (WhatsApp), a portrait of the author (Preferably in Yorùbá attire), Proof of age, any nationally acceptable forms of Identity Card and a writer’s bio of not more than 300 words. Aside this, no personal information should come up anywhere else in the document.
6. Writers are free to write on any theme and in whatever genre. We will give all submissions equal consideration and each work will be judge solely based on the quality of its message and cultural relevance.
7. All submission must be sent to atelewo.org@gmail.com with the subject in this format “MANUSCRIPT TITLE_WRITER’S NAME_ATELEWO PRIZE FOR YORUBA LITERATURE”.
ÀTẸ́LẸWỌ́ has the right to disqualify any submission that does not follow the stated rules above.
Prize:
– There will be a shortlist of top 5 entries and 1 grand winning entry.
– The top five winners will receive book gifts worth N20,000 each and a deal to publish their works on our digital publishing platform.
– The grand winner receives the prize of N50,000, book gifts and a publishing deal.
Deadline: We will not consider any manuscript submitted after November 30, 2020.
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