Angloplat short story competition 2007 launches

Awarding a total of R65 000 in prize money and the chance to win platinum jewellery.

"We encourage you to start writing an exciting, gripping and original story of between 4500 and 5000 words in English to be sent typed or handwritten. This competition does not disqualify writers for imperfect grammar or spelling, as long as the story is interesting."

Anglo Platinum and Beulah Thumbadoo & Associates (BTA) announced that the 2007 BTA/Anglo Platinum short story competition is officially open for entries. For the past 13 years, this competition has helped to give a voice to thousands of ordinary South Africans and has created a wealth of local writing, receiving over 12000 stories from throughout southern Africa. The competition, one of the most entered writing competitions in the world, has been overwhelmingly successful in raising awareness about writing and reading. In addition, the prize money for the competition, totalling R65 000 (with R25 000 for first prize), is among the highest for any short story writing competition

Last year Renee Muller won first prize for her tale “Mrs Tilbury’s Cast-offs”, about an old lady who invites local children into her home to sing along as she revisits her piano. Mrs Tilbury and the youngsters are richer for the experience. Renee is a former drama, language and education practitioner, currently a writer and translator in Cape Town.

Entrants are asked to write a gripping and original story of between 4500 to 5000 words. The competition is unique in that it focuses on content over form, understanding that many entrants will be writing in their second or third language. Story quality and creativity are the key criteria and entrants are not penalized for imperfect grammar and spelling. As such, stories are submitted from all walks of life, throughout Southern Africa. Ferial Haffajee, Editor-in-Chief of the Mail & Guardian and regular judge, calls the competition, “a date of promise on the literary calendar.”

This is the eighth year that Anglo Platinum is sponsoring this competition. Once again, a piece of platinum jewellery from the Djadji range is up for grabs in a special prize category.

Million Books Campaign

Beulah Thumbadoo, well known reading activist and advocacy worker has managed the short story competition for 13 years. In 2004, she launched the Million Books Campaign. This campaign is a follow-up project which makes books freely available to communities, addressing the South African reality that more than 50% of adults have access to fewer than 10 books.

The BTA Million Books Campaign (with the help of sponsoring organizations and companies) publishes the winning stories from the BTA/Anglo Platinum Short Story Competition each year. These books are then distributed to needy communities free of charge, thus putting interesting and relevant contemporary literature into the hands, homes and libraries of South Africans.

To date, 40 000 books in various formats have been printed and distributed to schools in the Northwest Province and Limpopo.

For more information on the competition, or the Million Books Campaign, please contact:
• Savo Tufegdzic (Creative Media) 011 888 3104