NIFCA 2024 LITERARY ARTS – JUNIORS ENTRY FORM

NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE FESTIVAL OF CREATIVE ARTS 2024

LITERARY ARTS 

RULES AND REGULATIONS 

 

Junior Prose and Poetry Competition

1.  NAME OF THE COMPETITION

1.             The name of the competition shall be the NIFCA Junior Prose and Poetry Competition (The “Competition”) and is organised and administered by the National Cultural Foundation (The “NCF”).

 

2. ELIGIBILITY

1.             Persons wishing to enter the Competition must be:
   • A citizen of Barbados or
   • Legally resident in Barbados
   • Pursuing legal residence (evidence must be provided)
2.             Entrants in the competition must be no younger than 12 years old, and no older than 16 years old by September 1, 2024.
3.              The NCF reserves the right to satisfy itself that the conditions relating to age are met.
4.             Participants must have their registration forms signed by their teacher, parent or guardian.

 

3.   ENTRY TO THE COMPETITION

1.             Participants must enter directly with the NCF by properly completing the NCF approved Entry Form online at NCF.BB and submitting the collection of literary work in PDF format via the same form.
2.             Online entry forms should be submitted on or before Friday June 28, 2024, no later than 11:59 p.m.
3.              Entrants who fail to register by the deadline indicated at 3 b) above shall not be eligible for participation in the Competition.
4.             Submissions may include poetry and/or short stories.
5.              Each participant may submit no more than 5 poems and/or 2 short stories.
6.               All entries to the competition should be original work. Where there is a complaint that an entry does not conform to this requirement, the complainant should produce evidence to support the complaint. The competitor should also be prepared to present evidence of originality, where necessary.”
7.              The penalty for submitting unoriginal work shall be disqualification of the work from the Competition. Participants found to have entered plagiarised work will be disqualified in full from the Competition. In addition, the participant may be barred from entering the Competition for the next two (2) consecutive years.
8.             In the event that work has been rewarded and is subsequently found to have been plagiarised, the reward will be rescinded and any monetary awards must be refunded by the participant.  Additionally, the participant may be barred from entering the Competition for the next two (2) consecutive years.
9.                The NCF reserves the right to use any means deemed necessary and suitable to determine that the work submitted is in fact the work of the entrant, without significant help/instruction from a parent/guardian/teacher/other. This includes but is not limited to requesting samples of other works by the entrants, interviews with the entrant, etc.
10.                The NCF retains the first local publication rights to publish and edit recommended entries. Any person who makes a submission or participates in this competition thereby agrees to grant The National Cultural Foundation first local publication rights to publish and edit recommended entries.

 

4. ARBITRATION

1.             Prior to the deadline for submission of Entry Forms, the NCF shall appoint an Arbiter to decide and adjudicate on any appeals, complaints and matters in dispute or requiring clarification arising from these Rules.
2.             All complaints related to the Competition should be submitted, in writing, to the Arbiter, in a sealed envelope addressed as follows:

 

The Arbiter

National Cultural Foundation

West Terrace

St. James

3.              All decisions made by the Arbiter shall be final and binding on the competitors and the NCF.

 

5.  ADJUDICATION

1.             A panel of Judges shall be selected for the adjudication of the Competition.
2.             The NCF shall determine the composition of the panel of judges and shall appoint a member of the panel to be Chief Judge.
3.              The names of the judges shall be publicly announced before the commencement of the Competition.

 

 6.  SUBMISSIONS

1.             Each entry must be original and unpublished.
2.             There should be only one entry form filled out per person.
3.              The entrant’s and the author’s names should only appear on the entry form. Neither of these should appear on the work itself. Work with name(s) printed on it will be disqualified.
4.             Each piece of prose must be no more than 2000 words in length. (The word length must be clearly stated at end of entry e.g. Word Count 1,500).
5.              Pages for prose entries should be numbered with a word from the title and the page number. For example, page 7 of a work entitled Leaving Bridgetown might be marked “Bridgetown – 7”.
6.               The first page should not be numbered.
7.              Poetry entries should be single spaced.
8.             All entries should be neatly presented and clearly typed with a font of 12 in Times New Roman. 
9.                Each contributing author should be clearly indicated on the registration form submitted.
10.                No computer graphics or any designs are to appear on the entered pieces.
11.             Judges will read all qualifying entries.
12.                The NCF reserves the right not to award any prize. 

 

7. PROMOTION

The participant agrees that the NCF shall be entitled to use his/her entry in whole or in part, and/or his/her image or likeness in the promotion of the competition and other related NIFCA events.

 

8. JUDGING CRITERIA

Entries in the 12 – 16 Junior competition shall be judged in the following areas: 

 

I. POETRY: 

• Command of Language – 25%: 

Coherence; accurate vocabulary; punctuation etc.  Ease and flow- e.g. doesn’t strain to rhyme; voice; tone.

• Use of Poetic Elements – 25%:  

Metaphor, simile, imagery, symbolism, rhyme (where relevant) economy of language. 

• Command of form – 25%: 

Meter, rhythm, guides the reader/speaker, adheres to what it is, e.g. sonnet, cinquain, ode, limerick, etc. Presentation on the page. 

 

• Impact- 25%: 

Has a point and makes it. Fresh way of seeing; delivers insight/emotion.

a) Entrants submitting limericks and Haiga/Haikus must submit a collection of 2 poems which will constitute being counted as one poem.

 

• Command of Language – 25%: 

Spelling and punctuation. Coherence. Economy of expression.  Ease and flow; use of figurative language

• Plot – 30%: 

Clear development of storyline (sequential or non – sequential). Setting relevant to mood. Originality of story.

• Characterisation – 25%: 

Well developed and differentiated characters

• Impact – 20%: 

Delivers insight/emotion. Has a point to make and makes it.  (For published work this includes format (digital) and visuals)

 

9.  PRIZES

Only entries that medal in the Competition will be eligible for these awards.

 

1.             Certificates will be awarded as follows:

Gold     91 – 100 points

Silver   81 – 90 points

Bronze 70 – 80 points

 

SPECIAL TOP AWARDS: Junior Category 

Prose

1.             The winning short story will be awarded a cash prize of BBD$1,000.00. 

 

Poetry

2.             The winning poem will be awarded a cash prize of BBD$1,000.00.

 

GENERAL & SPECIAL AWARDS

1. Literary Arts Teacher’s Prize – This prize will be presented to the teacher through whom the most successful number of pieces are entered. This will take the form of a monetary award of BBD$1,000.00 and a plaque.
2. The Incentive Awards will take the form of plaques and cash awards to a value of BBD $400.00 for individuals and BBD$750.00for groups, for medal winning entries awarded as follows:
   1. Most Outstanding Junior Entrant – Award will be given to reward and encourage a promising junior writer.
   2. Most Original Entry by a Junior Entrant – this award will be given to a junior entrant whose work is deemed original in outlook and composition by anyone in this category.
   3. Most Promising Junior Entrant will be awarded to the junior entrant who has earned a medal in all of their submissions, that is, 2 or more.
   4. Most Promising Prose: 7 – 11.
   5. Most Promising Prose:12 – 17.
   6. Most Promising Poetry: 7 – 11.
   7. Most Promising Poetry: 12 – 17.

 

3. The “Barbados Landship 161^st Anniversary” Prize has been created to reward any entry that pays tribute to any aspect of this institution’s history, activities or its legacy. It will comprise a cash award of BBD$2,000.00 and a trophy.
4. The Cynthia Wilson NIFCA Producer’s Prize. This prize takes the form of a trophy and a cash prize of BBD$1,000.00, and will be awarded to recognize outstanding participation by a community leader, producer/organizer who facilitates and manages the successful participation of a group of artistes in any discipline for over five years. One prize will be awarded each year. 
5. The Business Entrepreneur Prize. This prize is awarded in each NIFCA discipline and is valued at BBD$15,000.00. It will be awarded to recognize Adult, Gold Awarded works that demonstrate entrepreneurial value, towards investment in product development.
6. The NTI Citizenship Special Prize is offered by the National Transformation Initiative for an entry that explores what it means to be an active citizen of Barbados. It is valued at BBD$2,000.00 per discipline, and awardees must complete the NTI Citizenship Course in order to collect the award.
7. The NTI Award for the most outstanding NIFCA performance by an artist/artists with disabilities is offered by the National Transformation Initiative. It is valued at BBD$2,000.00 and is offered across all disciplines of NIFCA.

 

 

 

NB.  Honourable Mentions are given to encourage junior writers who show literary potential.  These take the form of a letter acknowledging such for non-medal winning entries that the judges consider are worthy of such.

 

General queries should be directed to CO- Literary Arts at the National   Cultural Foundation at telephone number 417-6625, or email karra-price@ncf.bb.