Call for the X Ultramar Prize for Literature 2014

Call for the X Ultramar Prize for Literature 2014
Nueva York, July 15 2014

With a cash prize of USD$5,000 and directed toward Dominican writers who reside outside their country, the Ministry of Culture of the Dominican Republic, through the Dominican Commissioner of Culture in the United States, called for the tenth edition of the Ultramar Prize for Literature 2014.

This competition will officially commence on the date that the competition rules are announcedand entrieswill be receiveduntil November 16th, 2014, at the Dominican Commissioner of Culture’s office in the United States, located at541 West, 145 Street, 2nd. floor, New York, NY, 10031.

The Dominican Commissioner of Culture in the United States, Mr. Carlos Sánchez, informed thatthis year’s competitionwill include thePoetry, Stories, and Novel categories.

The winning works will be published in the Ultramar Collection by Editora Nacional, and they will be formally announced as part of the program for the XVIII International Book Fair Santo Domingo2015.The winning authors will participate as Guests of Honor in the Book Fair.

This competition will officially commence on the date that the competition rules are announcedand entrieswill be receiveduntil November 16th, 2014, at the Dominican Commissioner of Culture’s office in the United States, located at541 West, 145 Street, 2nd. floor, New York, NY, 10031.

The Ultramar Prize for Literature 2014focuses on encouraging, recognizing and promoting literary creations by Dominican writers, who, because of various motives, have established their residence outside their native country. The competition first took place in the year 2005 in the category Poetry, and the winning book was Saint Domingue 2044 (Santo Domingo 2044), by Dominican poet Osiris Vallejo. In 2006, the competition was for the category Stories, in which the winning book wasReminiscenciasby Dominican writer Keiselim A. Montás. In the Novel category, Dinorah Coronado won the competitionin 2007 with her work A la sombra del flamboyán. In the Essay category, Antonio A. Méndez won the competition in 2008with his work La mujer dominicana: inmigrante en busca de la igualdad. And in the Theater category, Jimmy Váldez won in 2009with his work titled La redonda peña despeñada.

For the first time in 2010, the call for the competition included three categories. This resulted in a winner for each category: Rubén Sánchez Féliz in the Novel category with his work Los muertos no sueñan; Rey Andújar in the Stories category with his work Saturnario,and Daniel Baruc Espinal Rivera in the Poetry category with his work Roja iconografía de los otoños.

In 2011, Diógenes Abreu, a New York resident, won the prize in the Theater category with his work La Jom Atenda; Esteban Torres, who also lives in New York, won in the Essay category with the work Antropología dramática,and Juan Carlos Campos “Koldo”, who lives in Spain and is a nationalized Dominican, won in the Children’s Literature category with his work El rey necio.

In 2012, the winners were: Rubén Sánchez Féliz, who competed in the categories Novel and Stories with the works Un cuarto lleno de anguilas and Ya nunca será como antes, respectively; and Daniel Baruc Espical, who won in the Poetry category with his work La música y el vertigo.

In 2013, Diógenes Abreu, who lives in New York, won the Essay prize with his work Sin haitianidad no hay dominicanidad: cartografía de una identidad que se bifurca; Frank Disla, who lives in New Jersey, won in the Theater category with the work Ascenso y caída de Andresito Reyna; César Sánchez Beras, a resident of Massachusetts, won in the Children’s Literature category with the work El sapito azul y el misterio sonoro.

Rules of the Competition:

1. Dominican (or of Dominican origin) writers, of any age, who have lived abroad for at least three years, may participate.
   
2. The categories for this competition are: Poetry, Stories, and Novel.
   
3. Entries must be original and unpublished. The author will guarantee each work’s authorship, originality, and that it is neither a copy nor a modification of the work of another person. Entries that compete simultaneously in another category cannot participate, nor the works that belong to writers who have passed away before the competition was announced. Participating entriesmust be written in Spanish, with a minimum of one hundred (100) pages, 8.5 X 11 inches, for the Novel category; seventy-five (75) pages for the Storiescategory; and fifty (50) pages for the Poetry category; all of which must be typed in double space and one-sided print.
   
4. Works must be presented in 12-point Times New Roman font in double space.
   
5. Writers may participate in all three categories, if they so desire, with ONLY ONE entry per category and a different pseudonym for each. Once the winner is announced for each category, the office of the Dominican Commissioner of Culture in the United States, as the organizer of the competition, will proceed to open the envelopes containing all of the entriessubmitted for the competition. If it is determined that the winner (or winners) has/have violated the rules by sending more than one entry per category, the prize will be revoked and will be awarded to the finalistentry that the Jury predetermines.
   
6. Writers who have won prizes in previous editions of the competitionmay participate again. However, their participation will be restricted if they have received an award two (2) consecutive times in the same category. Employees of the Dominican Commissioner of Culture in the United States are not allowed to participate.
   
7. The winning works will remain the property of the author. The Dominican Commissioner of Culture in the United States has the right of first publication, in which the author will receive twenty percent (20%) of all published copies.
   
8. Entriesmust be signed with a pseudonym. Theymust include a closed enveloped whose exterior will only contain the chosen pseudonym and the title of the participating entry. The interior will contain the personal details, name, last name, mailing address and e-mail, and the phone number of the author.
   
9. The topic is open.
   
10. Four (4) copies must be submitted by postal mail or personal delivery to the office of the Dominican Commissioner of Culture in the United States, located at 541 West, 145 Street, 2nd. Floor, New York, NY, 10031. A CD containing the competing entry and the author’s pseudonym is required. The CD cannot contain the personal details of the author.
    
11. A unique and indivisible prize of five thousand dollars (USD$5,000.00) will be awarded to each winner in each category, plus a certificate. No honorable mentions or any other form of compensation will be provided. The works selected by the Jury in each category will be published. The winning author will be the Guest of Honor at the International Book Fair Santo Domingo2015.
    
12. The Jury will be selected by the Dominican Commissioner of Culture in the United States and will be made of prestigious specialists in each category of the competition.
    
13. The opening of the envelope that will contain the name of the winning entry will be made in public in the presence of the Jury of each category and a Notary Public. This ceremony will be held in January, 2015. The presentation of the awards will take place in an event organized by the Dominican Commissioner of Culture in the United States in March, 2015. T
    
14. he composition of the Jury will be made public when the decision is announced. The decision will be irrevocable. The Jury can declare any of the possible award categories vacant.
    
15. The winning works will be published by Editora Nacional in the Ultramar Collection and will be formally presented as part of the International Book Fair Santo Domingo2015. If a year after an entry has been formally selected as a winner and the Dominican Commissioner of Culture in the United States has not yet published it, the author is at liberty to publish the work at his/her convenience.
    
16. The Dominican Commissioner of Culture in the United States will not return the original copies to the participants.
    
17. If after the prizes have been awarded in any of the categories, the Jury, the Ministry of Culture or the Dominican Commissioner of Culture in the United States detect any anomalies, fraud or a violation of the rules, the prize may be revoked. In this case, the winner must return the monetary prize in its entirety, alongside the certificate.
    
18. This competitionwill bedeclared officially open starting on the date of the publication of these rules, and entries will be received until November 16th, 2014, at 6:00 p.m. After this date and time no entries will be accepted, without exception.
    
19. The participation of the authors automatically implies their complete acceptance to these rules.

The Dominican Commissioner of Culture in the United States, Mr. Carlos Sánchez,