By Nidal Chebbak
Morocco World News
Fez, March 22, 2013
The Fez-based Moroccan Association of Friends of English (MAFE) has launched the call for participation in the 3rd edition of the National Competition of Creative Writing in English which will start receiving participations from March 22nd till June 1st, 2013.
The competition aims to encourage creative writing among youth and provide them with a national platform to share their literary talents. It will also be an opportunity to award innovative and creative literary contributions in a competitive sphere.
A jury of university professors from different Moroccan cities - who are specialized in the field - is assigned to “blind” read the contributions. Neither the participant’s name nor any other identifying information should appear on the work itself while submitted to the jury. The jury will select two winners from each category, short stories and poetry. The winners will be awarded in a final ceremony in the presence of university professors, writers, and poets. The 5 finalists from each category will have the opportunity to benefit from a free workshop on creative writing in Fez, which will help them sharpen their literary skills.
The competition conditions are:
-Age: 18-30 years old.
-Participants must be non-native speakers of English either Moroccans or residing in Morocco.
-Submissions must NOT exceed: 2000 words for short stories and 50 lines for poems.
-Submissions must NOT be published anywhere (not having appeared in print and/or on any web site)
-Participants can participate either with one short story OR one poem.
-Submissions must be sent to this email: mafe.creativewriting3@gmail.com
Nidal Chebbak is a first year doctoral student at Sidi Mohammed ben Abdellah University of Fez. Nidal is also the vice president of the Moroccan Association of Friends of English (MAFE). She served for a year as Morocco World News’ correspondent in Fez.