‘The Kenya I Live In’ Short Story Competition Update
Written by Kwani · February 25, 2010
Kwani Short Story Competition
In July 2009 Kwani Trust announced the launch of a national short story competition titled, ‘The Kenya I Live In’, inspired by the recent push for ‘The Kenya We Want’.
Kwani Trust has received a record 500 entries for the ‘Kenya I Live In’ short story competition. Winners will now be announced on the 24th of March during the launches of 4 upcoming Kwani? titles. In addition to being published in our upcoming issue, Kwani? 06, the three best stories will bag the following prizes:
• Winner: Ksh. 100,000
• 1st runner up: Ksh. 50,000
• 2nd runner up: Ksh. 25,000
There will also be a 10,000 shilling gratuity for the 3rd and 4th runners up.
This call-out is unique for targeting writers under the age of 30, in a country in which young people have virtually no airing.
The judges for the competition are:
· Dr Tom Odhiambo – Literary theorist: Dr Tom Odhiambo
· Dr Wambui Mwangi – Political scientist and writer
· Doreen Baingana – Storymoja editor and twice shortlisted Caine Prize writer
· Kwamchetsi Makoha – Journalist
·Parselelo Kantai – Journalist and twice shortlisted Caine Prize writer
Kwani Trust would like to thank all the writers who submitted entries into the competition.
At least we no the judges, kudos ‘KWANI?. eNYEWe hamna jokes. ninyi ni wale kibaki anasema , ‘na hiyo imesema minister afutetwe kazi…ahh hapana… hapana! bure kabisa’
You guys are just a bunch of dyed-in-wool procrastinators. You couldn’t stick to a deadline to save your lives. This competition is now running to a whole year. You guys need to understand that some of us have lots of other competitions and magazines we need to submit our stories to but we cant, why? because the requirements (including for this very competition) is usually that the story needs not to have been published anywhere else. so our lives are kind of on hold because a group of Africans cant stick to deadlines they themselves have set! Shame on you Kwani?, and you ought to be ashamed of yourselves!
AND WE STILL WONDER WHY THE DEVELOPED WORLD MOCKS OUR DEDICATION TO TIME??
The list of judges is impressive. Prize find is impressive. Are the stories impressive?
joseph hellon is speaking for me. i too have been waiting for news concerning the competition and have been on hold. whats been happening?
I have to agree with Joseph Hellon, if the Zoetrope, Caine Prize or other widely respected short story competitions postponed the deadline, then postponed the results we wouldn’t find it acceptable at all… so if Kwani? wants to be held in high esteem as “the” literary journal in Kenya, they should stick to their deadlines and earn our respect!
Ha ha ha ha ha!
What is this?
The results were due in November 09, then it was February this year, now it’s towards the end of March.
What is the matter with Kwani? it’s unable to meet deadlines. Are the staff serious?
And they were yet to pick the judges long after the competition drew to a close.Why is it that they have released their names now and not then? Why were the names not announced earlier?
Also, the excuse we heard for the first deadline extension was an insult. We are writers and writers are not idiots. We can see something is not quite right with Kwani?.
I realize that there is nothing I can do about the decisions Kwani? makes. As they say, first impressions have a lasting impact. When I first heard about this competition, I heard about Kwani? and their website for the first time. I submitted my entry, watched and waited…
Kwani? is a dissapointment!
I would think the guys complaining about this are the ones whose stories are probably mediocre and not prize worthy.
It’s a first time for Kwani and I don’t see any problem in the delays.
KWANI? don giv adamn 2 these guys, they ArE NOT WRITERS an writers DON WYNE, take this: “Ken Walibora wrote a book that was to be published FOUR YEARS LATER!!!!! wHO EVER reads SIKU NJEMA an never falls in LOVE” WITH THIS REGARD KWANI? APOLOGIZES TO OUR ESTEEMED IMPATIENT WRITER : SORRY, THE DEADLINE FOR THE COMPETITION IS 24TH APRIL 2010, WE KINDLY APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCES – KWANI?.
Anybody claiming to be grounded because Kwani has not announced winners is not a writers.A writer has much material to submit to other competitions
Kudos Kwani?, but a little say about the quality of the work would be more appreciated. Waiting for the launch.
will u also consider those who wrote in sheng’?
Yes stories written in sheng were considered, thanks Eric.
And for those of you who would like to submit your works elsewhere and feel that they have been embargoed by Kwani? you are welcome to submit a letter of withdrawal to the original submissions address for the competition. This will absolve you any legal holdups now and in the future.
Please note the views expressed by the above named KWANI ADMINISTRATOR are not the official views of Kwani? and while they are appreciated they are not in any way wholly representative nor are they authoritative.
Regards. KT.
Oh dear! Kwani? Team dont be like that. You are making me lose hope in you! you guys are exhibiting the classical Kenyan problem, that of not taking criticism. Please indulge me a little as i try to explain things.
There used to be an advert on our TVs some few years back that used to intrigue and fascinate me. it had a Dad reading his daughter a bedtime story through a landline telephone. The Dad was overseas or something of the sort, and i cant seem to remember which particular Telephone service provider sponsored the advert, or even if it was sponsored by a Telephone company. But thats not important because what was intriguing was the story the Dad used to read her sweet little child.
The story was about a certain Sungura who made an elaborate feast of delicious foods, and undertook to invite all the animals in the jungle to the meal. and the jungle animals all gladly accepted the invite to this feast. Then on the very day of the feast, the Hare camouflaged himself, dressing up as some exotic unknown animal, pretended to be a guest like everyone else and then, much to the chagrin of the assembled guests, proceeded to eat ALL the food!
Forgive the rather loose storyline.
But here is my point. Kwani?. You guys decided to come up with a National Short Story competition. Nobody forced you to, nobody asked you to, You guys – out of your own volition – decided it. And that was great. We loved this idea. We even salute you for your efforts at giving Kenyan youth a platform to dialogue about their beloved country through stories. But you see Kwani, we – like the animals in the story – were invited to this great literary feast. we accepted the invite and came to the party. But what do we find? You told us that the food would be served at 3.00pm, then you changed to 5.00pm, then 7.00pm, then…you get the drift.
The sungura in the story treated his fellow animals in a condescending manner because he felt since he had called the party, he could do ANYTHING. Like eat all the food thus make the animals waste their precious time coming over to his feast.
We are your esteemed guests Kwani? and if you tell us you will serve as at a particular time, then by God serve us at that very time you said! Dont start talking about “letters of withdrawals” and such kind of things.
So now the date of being served some tasty Kenyan “dishes” has been set as 24/3/2010. We will come again and be your hosts then ( we are forbearing like that!). We will come the Kenyan way of going to a feast – not having taken any food at our places so that we eat to the fill in your feast. JUST DONT DELAY SERVING US AGAIN…
I remain your Number one Fan, Joseph Hellon.
How come nobody has noticed the REDUCTION of the prize fund? Originally, Kwani had slated 75k for runner up and 50k for third spot. Now it’s 50k and 25k respectively. And Kwani has no balls to openly state this reduction.
What a wasted opportunity you all are. If the ‘rants’ in this place could have been stringed together someone would have come up with a kick ass narrative called “The Great Kwani Short Story Heist” and one of the top prizes would have been up for grabs.
You guys should shut it. Just a couple of years back we were all wondering where the f*&k were the kudos/sponsorship for a competition just like this…now here comes one and all you can do is whine like greedy dogs.
Kwani keep it up, to hell with this complainers.
You guys gotta be grateful for kwani? . With or without the contest. I had thought there aren’t literary magz in Kenya until i came across kwani?. I am so glad Kenyan Literature is very much alive. My gratitude to the founder of Kwani? and those who continue to maintain it.
At least we know the progress on this issue. Thanks for promoting Kenyan talent.Please keep it that way, Kwani?
Ok…it’s a week to naming the winners…in the meantime…WHO ARE THE NOMINEES??
How often is Kwani published? kwani wasnt so detailed about the kind of stories they preffer? genre or styles and the like. Does Kwani publish Writers living away from kenya who have kenyan roots or have lived in kenya before and write things relevant to kenya? is there a word limit on short stories? thanks
Who are the nominees, i too ask, just to keep in knowledge?
Who are the nominees, i too ask?
Kwani is not accountable to the contestants. That’s the prob. They do things dictator style. List of nominees is being manipulated as we speak.
Wow! It’s a week to the naming of the winners and no list of nominees. This is how we do it in Kenya! It’s stunning, Kwani? releases two volumes dedicated to the anger and unpunished impunity of the post-election chaos. Here they exhibit the same characteristics of lethargy, indecisiveness, intrigue, lack of transparency, procrastination which dogged the electoral commission in those heady December 2007 days.
It’s called soft hypocrisy.
Name the nominees. Or next time do not announce a short story competition.
Nothing personal, I think overall Kwani? has done a great job but this was a disappointment. Their timing and enthusiasm for this competition sucks.
Damn! also noticed the reduction in price money….if the reduction were genuine, then the top price would have been also relatively reduced….But seems Kwani? team responsible is using ‘kifunga-macho’
the nominees should have been named by now….its been more than 3/4 of an year since entries were handed in! wolololololo!
Please style up and do things professionally!
Kwani’s PR machine leaves something to be desired. One way they could have extinguished the criticism which the fumbling of this event has brought on was to regularly dish out tidbits on how the entry evaluation was going on. Their facebook updates are slow, the updates on this website are snail-mail worthy…basically they are not quick on their feet. Their PR needs revamping.
On the bulletin providing the updates of “The Kenya I Live In” competition, Kwani? wrote:
“Winners will now be announced on the 24th of March during the launches of 4 upcoming Kwani?”
And on this latest bulleting:
“The event [to be held on March 24th] will include an award ceremony for the winner of the recent Kwani? Short Story Competition.”
How do you give an award without first notifying the winner? I am writing this on March 20th and there hasn’t been a word from Kwani? in regards to when the winners will be notified, in fact most of us were under the impression that notifications would happen on March 24th.
There are two possibilities here; either Kwani? has already decided and communicated with their choice winners which makes their publicized date of announcement a fraud, or they are assuming that their choice winner will definitely be in the crown at the CDC Cain event.
24th of March? Why not the end of July, or May 2015? Or, we can push it and make it part of Vision 2030.