“It is my wish that the voice of the storyteller will never die in Africa, that all the children in the world may experience the wonder of books, and that they will never lose the capacity to enlarge their earthly dwelling place with the magic of stories” – Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.
“It is my wish that the voice of the storyteller will never die in Africa, that all the children in the world may experience the wonder of books, and that they will never lose the capacity to enlarge their earthly dwelling place with the magic of stories” – Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.
To this end, the Puku Story Competition was launched in Grahamstown earlier this month. It is designed to celebrate and preserve the isiXhosa language and rich heritage of storytelling, while raising awareness on the importance of taking care of our environment.
The theme for the competition, open to isiXhosa speaking youth between 13 and19 years old, is “Celebrating our legacy and inventing our future”.
Entrants may write stories related to celebrating isiXhosa linguistic and cultural legacy and how they would like to preserve this in the future. They may also write about how to take care of the environment to make the world a better place for present and future generations. The essays are to be between 500 and1 500 words and must all be submitted by 15 January 2015.
Here are the guidelines:
All entries must be handwritten and in isiXhosa.
Stories must be the original work of the writer.
Only one story per entrant is allowed.
Once a story is submitted, the entrants will not be allowed to revise it.
Entrants must be between the ages of 13 and 19 years and able and willing to travel.
Gold medals and certificates will be awarded to the writers of the 10 best stories.
1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes to the value of R20 000 will be the award for the top three stories.
Winners will be announced at the Puku Story Festival in February 2015.
All entries must be sent to: PostNet Suite # 14 Private Bag X1672 Grahamstown, 6140 Or scanned and emailed to: stories@redisa.org.za
The competition is organised by the Puku Children’s Literature Foundation and supported by the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign.
It is sponsored by the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (REDISA).
