2017 Short Story Day Africa Prize

Short Short Story Day Africa (SSDA) now accepts submissions for its 2017 Short Story Day Africa Prize. The winner will receive $800, the runner-up $200 and the second runner-up $100. So, submit one 3,000-5,000, previously unpublished piece of short fiction that explores identity, like themes of gender identity and sexuality. According to Short Story Day Africa,

The “Id” is one of three aspects of personality, one we have no control over. Hidden and unconscious, the Id exists as the core of the self, our instinctual nature, our deepest desires.

In modern Africa, our identities are too often defined for us and not by us. Hence, society, biology and history have since trapped our identities. In 2017, we hope to see work that seeks to break and redefine the strictures put onto our identities, as individuals and as peoples. Fiction that looks beyond the boundaries of expectation, and peers into the truest definitions of ourselves.

Submit your story via Short Short Story Day Africa’s Submittable.

Submission Guidelines

To be eligible, you must be an African living at home or abroad, or anyone with permanent residence in any African country. Submit only stories primarily written in English, although you can incorporate other languages into your story. You can submit your short story under a pseudonym or nom de plume for the Short Story Day Africa Prize.

The Short Story Day Africa Prize judges will review submissions anonymously. Therefore, do not include your name or identifying details anywhere on your manuscript. However, include these details on the cover page. Place the title, must be the original title, of your story halfway down the cover page. And, put an accurate word count at the top right.

Also, type your document in Times New Roman or similar serif font, 12-point size, double-spaced. Left-justify your paragraphs and number the pages. Use 1 inch or 2-centimeter margins. Indent each new paragraph by about 1/2 inch or 1 centimeter, except for the first line of the story or the first line of a new scene. Don’t insert extra lines between your paragraphs. As a blank line indicates a new scene. Put the word “End” after the end of your text, centered, on its own line.

Short Short Story Day Africa will include selected entries in an anthology as selected by the judges. Selected authors will work with editors to get their stories publication ready. By submitting a story, you attest it’s your original work and grant exclusive global print and digital rights to Short Story Day Africa, Worldreader and BooksLive. Thereafter, you have to seek permission to republish and attribute first publication to Short Story Day Africa when granted.

Deadline- July 31