Book O’Clock Anniversary Prize: Call for Submissions
Secondary schools in Sokoto are invited to enter for the Book O’clock Anniversary Prize & stand a chance of winning prizes worth over N100,000. Theme: “If The President Could Read Me”
The Book O'clock Anniversary Prize is an annual literary prize organised by Book O'Clock to mark her anniversary.
Its first edition is themed "If The President Could Read Me" and is a writing prize targeted at getting secondary school students in Sokoto to write essays on what they would like to say to the incoming President of Nigeria.
Teens form a great percentage of our country’s population which should make them a stakeholder in the required considerations before decision making, but we have seen in the past how that is not done. This prize is thus as much a medium of expression for these students as it is a reward for excellent writing.
The longlisted writers will have their writings published in an e-anthology by Authorpedia – one of Africa’s formidable publishers. This is to document these works for future references and to give the budding writers a sense of being a published writer.
The shortlisted writers will then advance to the next stage where they will have to write on-the-spot on an undisclosed topic closely related to the theme of the prize, after which the three top finalists are selected, awarded cash prizes, books and the winning schools get plaques and much more.
Submission Guidelines
1. Interested participants must be registered students of a secondary school in Sokoto and they represent themselves and their school.
2. Schools are only allowed to have three representatives max and each rep can only make one submission. This means that each school gets three slots to enter for the prize.
3. Interested student-writers are required to write an essay between 500-1000 words on what they would like to say to the incoming president of Nigeria if he could read them.
4. Schools are to send submissions as attachments to our email address: bookoclockreview@gmail.com. The subject of the email should be Book O’clock Anniversary Prize + The Name of Your School.
5. In the body of the email, please indicate how many submissions your school is making with the names, classes and other necessary information of the student-writers. The identity cards of each of the students should be attached as well or attach an official letterheaded letter addressed to Book O’Clock confirming the studentship of the school’s representative(s).
6. You will receive an email within 24 hours confirming receipt of your submission. If you don’t, please reach out to Book O’Clock.
Deadline
May 31 2023
Prizes to be Won
1st Prize: N50,000 + Books + Award to school
2nd Prize: N30,000 + Books + Award to school
3rd Prize: N20,000 + Books + Award to school
Publication of longlisted writers
All participating schools also automatically join Book O’Clock’s network of schools.
The Book O’Clock Anniversary Prize is sponsored by Fr. Emmanuel Ojeifo.
