Submissions open for Toyin Falola Prize (Africa)

The theme this year is Sacred, and this is to be interpreted very broadly: in religious, secular, mysterious, virtuous, cherished terms, etc. Sacred could be about piety and consecration, or not.

Concerned with religion or religious belief and purposes i.e., rites, music, texts, belief, and experience i.e., consecrated, dedicated, divine, holy, solemn. To be sacred is to be sanctified, consecrated, cherished, hallowed, solemn, venerated, worthy of devotion and preservation.

What is sacred can be material, psychological, or political. They are interested in imaginative and bold works that test the limits of the understanding of the sacred. They desire works that show the sacred in the (un)profane, where the sacred resides, and the things that deny the sacred its due.

They are interested in the several possibilities that can come out of attempting to narratively understand sacred, test its limits, and its bounds. They want to experience what freedom means to several writers, what comes to mind when the sacred becomes the subject of discussion, what kind of worlds can be conceived and constructed with sacred in mind.

Eligibility Criteria

• Creative and genre-bending submissions are highly welcomed (including those hard to categorize) except erotica and chic-lit.
• Witty language and humour are especially welcomed.
• The narratives can be either factual or fiction, or a mixture of both; however, the genre must be clearly indicated by the entrant, which does not in any way influence/constrain the chances of the submission, as originality, creativity, and delivery are principal criteria.
• The writer should not be below the age of 15 or above 35 at the time of submission.
• There is no limit to the number of words; however, they would prefer submissions within the range of 1,500 – 4,500 words.
• They do not accept more than an entry per writer/submission.
• All entrants must be African, that is, the writer should either be born in Africa or have either of the two parents as African.
• All submissions must be the original work of the entrants, previously unpublished in any form, and not under consideration for publication or prize somewhere else. That means they do not accept translated works or simultaneous submissions.
• Note: Published means either online in any form or on any platform.

For more information, visit LUNARIS.