The Ministry of Culture Opens Call for the 2013 Annual Literature Awards

The Ministry of Culture Opens Call for the 2013 Annual Literature Awards
Santo Domingo, December 5, 2013

The Directorate of Literary Management, a department of the Ministry of Culture (MINC), Tuesday opened the call for the 2013 Annual Literature Awards on Tuesday. The call is for this year’s unpublished and published works.

The details of the announcement were released by MINC’s Director of Literary Management, Basilio Belliard, who explained that the call will be open from November 25th, 2013 until February 28th, 2014, at 4:00 pm; there will be no extensions.

The call is open for the following genres and modalities: poetry, short stories, novels, history, children literature, theater plays, and essays. In the history category, those who are interested may participate in the modalities of research paper and interpretation, compilation of historical documents and testimonies, as well as in socio-political, literary, and scientific essays. The winning genre or modality will receive RD$250,000 and a diploma of honor.

This competition is valid exclusively for Dominican authors or naturalized foreign writers who have been living in the country for over ten years.

The decision of the jury announcing the winners of this competition will be made public during a press conference on May 15th, 2014, and the awards ceremony will be a public and solemn act which will take place in July, 2014.

Entries must be submitted under a pseudonym and only first editions will be accepted for published works. No reprints will be accepted, even if they have been modified. Also, works that have received full or partial awards at similar national and international competitions will not be accepted in this competition.

Participation is prohibited for writers who are staff members directly related to books and reading, such as the Director Generals and the Assistant Directors of Literary Management, of the National Publishing entity, of the Book Fair, of the Literary Workshops System, and of the Ministry and the Vice Ministries of Culture.

The theme and form are free for all genres of entries. Authors who have received awards cannot participate again in the same genre until three years have elapsed.

Those interested in competing must submit four unedited or edited copies, written on a computer using double space, and must include the name and the title of the work. A separate envelope must contain the information about the author and a copy of his/her identity card or passport and a filled out form with all the required information.

Entries must be submitted to the offices of the Directorate of Literary Management, located in the Directorate of the Book Fair, in the Plaza de la Cultura Juan Pablo Duarte, between the hours of 9:00 am and 4:00 pm.