Time for an update re what’s trending on Wadadli Pen YouTube and blog – the last one was in January. The goal with these trending posts (I do it on my Jhohadli blog as well) is to boost engagement (comments, shares, likes, subscriptions or follows) toward building support. If nothing else, it’s an opportunity to catch up with what you missed. So let’s go.
Trending on YouTube (1-5) since the last trending post –
AB TODAY BEST OF BOOKS International Literacy Day FEATURE (uploaded September 16th 2022)
“Do we learn only in a building? I think we recognize no, we can learn anywhere.” – Wadadli Pen team member Barbara Arrindell
GMAB June 2nd 2021 (uploaded June 3rd 2021)
“This is a journey for me and I’m not going to stop…I’ve always wanted to write a book.” – 2021 Wadadli Pen winner Kevin Liddie
Sheniqua Greaves on GMAB (uploaded June 6th 2021)
“I really want to speak to my demographic as a woman of colour.” – Sheniqua Greaves, 2021 Wadadli Pen challenge honourable mention
World Book and Copyright Day Chat with Barbadian Author Cherie Jones (May 4th 2021)
“For me, I think people are complex and therefore the characters in my fiction should be as well.” – Cherie Jones, Barbadian writer
Misinterpreted (uploaded February 9th 2021)
“You have carried this baggage with you for so long that it has become a part of you. It is choking you.” – “Misinterpreted” by Liscia Lawrence, honourable mention in 2005 Wadadli Pen challene
Trending posts and pages on Wadadli Pen blog over the last quarter (1 – 5) –
Nobody go run me (lyrics) – from Wadadli Pen’s project to build a data base of all writing from Antigua and Barbuda including song lyrics
As with all content on wadadlipen.wordpress.com, except otherwise noted, this is written by Joanne C. Hillhouse (author of The Boy from Willow Bend, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, Oh Gad!, Musical Youth, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure, and The Jungle Outside). All Rights Reserved. Subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.
Top here is defined as most individual views. This year, four lists – one for pages on the blog (not including the home page), one for posts on the blog, one for new posts on the blog, and one for posts to the YouTube channel. The time period is the year to this point. The deep dive re engagement (likes, shares, comments etc.) that I typically do when preparing the Best of posts won’t be as meticulousness because I don’t have the time. I don’t want to make this too long, so rather than individual top 10s, I’m doing a top 20 overall which roughly breaks down to five per list. But! as taking the homepage away leaves only four pages, I’m going to round off with a new blog or vlog post that I think deserves more views. No, this isn’t the last post for the year…probably. But I guess I had time today.Here we go.
I’m going with the latest from the Wadadli Pen art and culture bulletin as a way to remind you that I post two of these a month -on the front end and the back end, trying to round up as much arts news as I have time to research and write about. It is a service to the Caribbean arts community by keeping us aware of and connected to what’s going on with each other. I’m not the only one doing this, obviously, but it’s still amazing how much we don’t know. So, as much as we can, now you know. Use the search feature to find former editions of Carib Lit Plus.
The award winning calypso songwriter gave an interview to Culture a week before his death in December 2020. I was glad I found this and had to share it. The title is commentary on the need for more cultural documentation more consistently.
It would appear that this honourable mention, ‘The Great Old Woodslave’, is the popularity winner of the 2021 season of the Wadadli Pen Challenge. Ironically, it’s written by someone who declares themselves not a writer and entered on a fluke with no intention or expectation of being picked.
The award winning calypso songwriter gave an interview to Culture a week before his death in December 2020. I was glad I found this and had to share it. The title is commentary on the need for more cultural documentation more consistently.
Speaking of record keeping, I’ve tried to do some of that here on the blog and this tribute to one of the Big Three of Antiguan Calypso (The Undefeated) is an example of it. This actually is not a new one; this is almost 10 years old (and I’m going to have to resist the urge to fix the links to videos that have since been removed because I simply don’t have the time).
This is a classic by the Monarch King Short Shirt one-third of the Big Three and an entry from a few years ago into the site’s lyrics project. I remain committed to this project but transcribing these songs is time consuming. If you think you’re intern material and this is the kind of project you might be into, email wadadlipen@gmail.com
This is perhaps the most important project, second only to our efforts to nurture new writers via the Challenge and related workshop activities, keeping this data base of writings from and by Antiguans and Barbudans. We have a canon; it is much more substantial than I realized when I started keeping this record and it continues to grow. Any blog intern will probably have to assist with maintaining this as well; if that’s you, email wadadlipen@wadadlipen
I like that I was right place right time to take this picture (and gain an appreciation for the musicianship of the whole Mason clan and the pioneering legacy of Oscar Mason). Shout out to Auntie Esther Henry who back in the 90s and early aughts organized concerts and other activities to celebrate our culture such as this Oscar Mason tribute concert, and then ‘harrassed’ the media to show up. I was the media. I showed up. And I don’t regret it.
Takeaway: The oldies are still the goodies. Check out some of our newer posts from time to time though, too, okay?
This is the how to submit page which includes the guidelines etc. for challenge submissions; so that makes sense. Also, good that people are checking it and trying to get their submissions right. Makes it easier for processing.
This is perhaps the most important page on the site; it’s the project history, present, and future. It’s a record of what we’ve done and are doing, and what some of our past finalists have gone on to do.
This is one of the newer pages – set up around when we got our legal non-profit status. They’ve been mentioned before in posts but I decided to set up a page as a way of introducing everyone to the team in a more permanent way.
Interview with the winning author on ABS TV’s Good Morning Antigua Barbuda. Kevin Liddie explains, he was also reluctant to enter, as he was going through a difficult patch, but he did have a pre-exising interest in writing that has been re-ignited.
We did the Challenge awards announcement by zoom (far from perfect but much improved from 2020 which was also a virtual year and a simple announcement but badly produced). We were fortunate to have the winners on the zoom and to hear from them during the ceremony.
Zuri Holder was one of my children, not biologically but in that I’ve been knowing him since he was a wee one through my years volunteering with the Cushion Club, I remember his graduation from secondary school when his father invited me to say some words just a few years ago, and, of course, his times as a Wadadli Pen finalist just a few years before that. I never imagined having to be at his funeral but that’s how 2021 started. Right around my birth date, as it happened. His father set up this award in his memory, though, of course, we would rather have him here with us. He lives on in our hearts, in our memories, and in this prize. This is the announcement of the first person whose name was etched unto the plaque.
Because I perceive Wadadli Pen as an arts development project, I love when we take the opportunity to give feedback on the winning submissions. If only we could do it for all. This year the logistics of doing it even for the winning pieces was too much for me, so I asked one of our judges to explain why we chose the winning piece as an example of what works and why.
The Barbados Embassy sent me this one and I was happy to share it. I haven’t read her book, How the One-Armed Sister sweeps Her House, yet, but she is having a year. The kind of year writers like me dream of – go forth and conquer, sis.
Takeaway: the Wadadli Pen YouTube channel could be more dynamic but I would need more time. If this is an area you would be interested in volunteering with – i.e. creating Wadadli Pen YouTube content and boosting the channel and all of Wadadli Pen across social media – email wadadlipen@gmail.com In fact, volunteering generally whereever help is needed.
As with all content on wadadlipen.wordpress.com, except otherwise noted, this is written by Joanne C. Hillhouse (author of The Boy from Willow Bend, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, Musical Youth, With Grace, Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure, The Jungle Outside, and Oh Gad!). All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed it, check out my page on Amazon, WordPress, and/or Facebook, and help spread the word about Wadadli Pen and my books. You can also subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.
Things I read that you might like too. Things will be added – up to about 20 or so – before this installment in the Reading Room and Gallery series is archived. For previous and future installments in this series, use the search feature to the right.
– Joanne C. Hillhouse Catapult Caribbean Creatives Online #catapultartsgrant #AskMeAnything Q & A with readers
***
Antiguan and Barbudan writers discuss To Shoot Hard Labour by Keithlyn and Fernando Smith as part of a month long reading series featuring the book. The series was produced by Beverly George for Observer Radio’s Voice of the People.
REPORTING
Excerpts, in no particular order, from Caribbean Time Bomb author Robert Coram’s A Reporter at Large: Ancient Rights in The New Yorker, 1989:
“Joseph, like most of the divers, is fond of having a drink now and then, and he is fond of rum, but he will not touch Cavalier rum, because it is made on Antigua.”
“And although the Barbudans had long ago learned to live together, so that there was little need for a judicial system, they were now technically bound by the laws of Antigua.”
“But the Antiguans, who saw Barbuda as a poor and backward island, did not want to finance medical facilities, schools, clergy, and courts on Barbuda.”
“The island is also ridiculed because the people are different; their quirky individuality standing out even in the Caribbean.”
“Barbudan slaves (enslaved Barbudans – my edit) even used Codrington boats to send their livestock and the fresh meat from their poaching to Antigua, and in 1829 the Codringtons’ island manager wrote of Barbudan slaves (enslaved Barbudans – my edit) wrote of Barbudan slaves, ‘They acknowledge no master, and believe the island belongs to themselves.’”
“Until 1961, when regular air traffic from Antigua began, it could take a week to reach Barbuda, even from Antigua.” – read the full article here: New Yorker 06 Feb 1989
***
‘It was in form four, he says, that his work began to acquire an especially grim, menacing glint, layered with violence, tones of the macabre, and an arsenal of baleful sexual suggestion. His father, who dutifully printed off copies of the stories at work, gave him a sage kernel of advice that Hosein has never forgotten: “Even if you writing smut, keep writing. Just be careful of who you showing it to.”’ – Shivanee Ramlochan on Kevin Jared Hosein in Caribbean Beat
ESSAYS/NON-FICTION
– Yvonne Weekes reading from her volcano themed memoir
***
“Georgetown is where some 90% of the population live today. We shouldn’t really be here. But in the 1700s, Dutch colonisers, bringing technology from their own low-lying country, decided to drain the swampy coast and install a ‘polder’ system of canals, sluice gates (known locally as kokers) and dams to cultivate sugar and other crops on the fertile land. Historian Dr Walter Rodney estimated that, in doing so, enslaved Africans were required to move 100 million tonnes of soil by hand. Ever since then, the sea has been trying to reclaim the land that was taken from it.” – Life on Stilts: Staying Afloat in Guyana by Carinya Sharples
‘In “Winged and Acid Dark,” Hass tells us directly what happens to the woman in Potsdamer Platz in May 1945, but he does this direct telling circuitously. The poet approaches the idea, then “suggests” the rape. Note the second stanza: “the major with the swollen knee, / wanted intelligent conversation afterward. / Having no choice, she provided that, too.” The poem suggests the before by describing the “afterward” and by describing what the woman has to do “too.” Later in the poem, Hass describes the prying open of her mouth and the spitting in it, and lets these moments stand for much more. The lightning strike of this poem, the one we would expect at least, would be a graphic description of the rape, and yet, Hass soothes us on that front while delivering alternatively terrifying truths. The thing we prepare ourselves for, because we’ve heard that old war story repeated so many times, is only alluded to. Instead, Hass focuses on something else we are surprised by and therefore have to hear.’ – Tell It Slant: How To Write a Wise Poem by Camille T. Dungy
CREATIVES ON CREATING
“I wanted not simply to record but to interrogate what was happening and my response to it, to use poetry the way it can function at its utilitarian best: offering ways of seeing, of examining, of challenging complacency, and of contextualising the current situation within broader life considerations. …I am surprised at what I am doing because I normally spend a huge amount of time thinking about, writing, and then editing everything that I write before sending it into the world, so this speed of composing, followed by a click of Send and then almost immediate response is something new for me. I am less concerned with literary values or aesthetics than I am with memorializing the historic moment that I am living through. I want to capture the zeitgeist, literally, ‘the spirit of the time’.” – Cross Words in Lockdown by Olive Senior
“I would sit and talk to them, get to the essence of who they were…because it would help me to figure out how to write for them.” -Babyface
FICTION
“On his knees, hands behind his head, he asked for a cigarette. I gestured that he be given one. Our eyes met, we held each other’s gaze. What was he thinking? He must have been the same age as me. The same dark skin and stature. In another time, another place, we might have been neighbours, colleagues, friends. But here, now, he is one of them. ” – from The Debt by Nicholas Kyriacou
“Sunny stayed up the entire night, mopping the floors of her living room and bedroom as the heavy winds forced water through the shutters and windows. It was silly, in hindsight. The water was coming anyway, and fast. But she had to pass the time. Once every half hour or so, she would run to the hallway, frightened by the loud crashing noises from outside, anticipating that one of the shutters would give way and the kitchen window would burst wide open. They never did that night.” – Four Women at Night by Schuyler Esprit
“Somewhere or other there must surely be
The face not seen, the voice not heard,
The heart that not yet—never yet—ah me!
Made answer to my word.” – from Somewhere or Other by Christina Rossetti
***
“But grief,
it wrings out your soul-case” – Grief by Yvonne Weekes in Barbados’ Arts Etc.
‘Like other poets of the Harlem Renaissance, McKay, though a powerful advocate of black liberation, took the dominant “voice” of traditional culture, mastered it and made it accommodate his different ways of seeing, his visions and his anger. The fusion of urban realism with more traditional Romantic tropes in Harlem Shadows still leaves room for clear blasts of rage against “the wretched way / Of poverty, dishonor and disgrace”.’ – re poem of the week Harlem Shadows by Claude McKay (poem and analysis)
***
“She forgave grandma, then a single mother of six,
who fed her children with one hand
while choking them with the other.” – from Mother Suffered from Memories by Juleus Ghunta in Anomaly 28
This blog is maintained by Wadadli Pen founder and coordinator, and author Joanne C. Hillhouse. Content is curated, researched, and written by Hillhouse, unless otherwise indicated. Do not share or re-post without credit, do not re-publish without permission and credit. Thank you.
I am not afraid.
The Zemis and my father will protect us
For he is the Cacique,
Ruler of all Arawaks
In the Bohio I cook,
In the hamaka I rest but
Today we celebrate the life of Mama
She will visit Coyaba
To dance and feast forever
While we munch away
On baked geese and cassava
I hear a rustle in the bush
Father demands the women and children inside
Men are near
But I am Damarae
I have no fear.
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rosie Pickering, 14, is a student at St. Anthony’s Secondary School. She was born in England and came of age in Antigua, after sailing here with her family across the Atlantic when she was one year old. She has lived here ever since.
Rosie collecting her prize from Wadadli Pen patron and London Rocks author Brenda Lee Browne.
ABOUT THE POEM:
“I decided to write a poem about some of the history of Antigua, using a teenage Arawak girl to kind of depict what a typical day in her village was. I have researched on this time period and have used some words and phrases that maybe the Arawaks would have used back then.” – Rosie
PRIZES WON: As with all the honourable mentions, Rosie received a training session (Presenting: Telling Your Story Orally) from Barbara Arrindell & Associates, and books and a certificate from the Best of Books.
ABOUT WADADLI PEN 2018: The Wadadli Youth Pen Prize launched in 2004 with a writing Challenge that continues 14 years later. The project was launched by Joanne C. Hillhouse with D. Gisele Isaac and the Young Explorer publication. Today, its core team is Hillhouse with past finalists Devra Thomas and Margaret Irish, and writers and long time patrons and partners Floree Whyte and Barbara Arrindell. The name of each winner is emblazoned on the Alstyne Allen Memorial plaque, named for one of the project’s earliest volunteers (and sister-friend of founder, Joanne C. Hillhouse) who died in 2015. The Challenge is Wadadli Pen’s pilot project, in keeping with its mandate to nurture and showcase the literary arts in Antigua and Barbuda. The Challenge has encouraged young writers in Antigua and Barbuda (35 years and younger) to write on any topic, within a Caribbean aesthetic. It doesn’t often prescribe other limitations, but this year it did request specifically historical fiction/poetry. Normally, prizes are broken down by age categories but this year it’s winner take all with only one winner and a handful of honourable mentions (Andre Warner, Rosie Pickering, Andrecia Lewis, Chloe Martin, and Ava Ralph). Congratulations to them all. Thanks to the patrons and to partners – Floree Whyte, Barbara Arrindell, Devra Thomas, and Margaret Irish. To find out how you can continue to support the work of Wadadli Pen contact wadadlipen@gmail.com
As with all content (words, images, other) on wadadlipen.wordpress.com, except otherwise noted, this is written by Joanne C. Hillhouse (author of The Boy from Willow Bend, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, Oh Gad!, Musical Youth, With Grace, and Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure). All Rights Reserved. You can also subscribe to and/or follow the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks. And remember while linking and sharing the links, referencing and excerpting, with credit, are okay, lifting whole content (articles, images, other) from the site without asking is not cool. Respect copyright.
When I came across an article about the honorary doctorate presented by the University of the West Indies to Olive Senior (my alma mater and first fiction workshop leader, respectively),
From Olive Senior’s social media.
I wanted share it. Just to big her up. But what she says gives me an even better reason.
‘Reasoning that cultivating curiosity — a writing tool — will enrich lives, making better citizens, workers, parents, future leaders and future influencers, Senior urged graduates to be more conscious in employing the tool to know more about themselves as Jamaicans, the country and its heritage.
…“Knowing about our country and ourselves is what enables us to feel rooted no matter how far we grow, for that is something that cannot be taken from us.”’
Apart from the obvious nod to one of the reasons we write, there is the specific reference to knowing and embracing your culture, not to the exclusion of others but as a way of understanding yourself when engaging with others. This naturally intersects with Wadadli Pen and especially with the 2018 Wadadli Pen Challenge. Wadadli Pen’s annual Challenge gives Antiguans and Barbudans the opportunity to write their world, and though we don’t normally do themed Challenges, this year’s is specific to historical fiction – not fiction necessarily set in a realistic point in our historical timeline (in fact we encourage writers to be experimental) but which, whatever the genre or sub-genre, engages with our history in some way. This was in part inspired by recent discussion about the waning interest in Caribbean history and our belief that we need to make Caribbean history cool again.
As with all content on Wadadli Pen, except otherwise noted, this is written by Antiguan and Barbudan writer Joanne C. Hillhouse (author of The Boy from Willow Bend, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, Oh Gad!, Musical Youth, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight 10th Anniversary Edition and Other Writings, With Grace, and Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure; also a freelance writer, editor, writing coach and workshop facilitator). All Rights Reserved. If you like the content here follow or recommend the blog, also, check out my page on Amazon, WordPress, and/or Facebook, and help spread the word about Wadadli Pen and my books. Thank you.
Yep, it’s that time again; time for our epic picture post – a time when I actually get to see what happened; because as anyone organizing anything knows, it’s actually kind of a blur (understatement). The Wadadli Pen 2017 Challenge awards were held on May 13th at the tail end of the Wadadli Stories Book Fair (kudos to the organizer of that, btw). This year, we have pictures by Linisa George of Art. Culture. Antigua – which is already one of Wadadli Pen’s patrons so she’s already been more than generous with us; and Jon Whyte, who was there to support his wife, Floree, chief judge of the Wadadli Pen 2017 Challenge. Some pictures have also been taken from either the Best of Books Bookstore or the Wadadli Stories page on facebook and from a posting by Marissa Walters of the St. Andrews students. Here they are, in no particular order.
12 and Younger
Images of winners in the 12 and Younger age category – who were, in descending order, Zion Ebony Williams, Emma Belizaire, Shadiael Simmons, Ashley Francis.
13 to 17
Images of winners in the 13 to 17 age category – who were, in descending order, Devon Wuilliez, Ava Ralph (not pictured), Francis Yankey, and Andrecia Lewis.
18 to 35
Images of winners in the 18 to 35 age category – who were, in descending order, Kaeiron Saunders, Lucia Murray, and Fayola Jardine.
School with the Most Submissions
That’s Island Academy with 22 of 90+ submissions.
Tout Monde Sam and Bagai
Some highlights from Wadadli Stories
Media Observer (front page standalone) + Caribbean Times (centre spread)
Some post awards pics
Things that happened after the awards for reasons beyond our control included the presentation of prizes to 13 to 17 2nd place Ava Ralph and to our intern Michaela Harris. Thanks to the staff of the Best of Books for these ones.
Location of the Just Write Writers’ Retreat, the Catholic Retreat Centre at Mount Tabor.
A 2016 post-Retreat release reads in part:
‘The retreat’s organiser, Brenda Lee Browne is very happy: “This is the third Just Write Writers’ Retreat in Antigua and it is growing. It was a packed two days in a great setting and I cannot thank Joanne C. Hillhouse and Chadd Cumberbatch enough for being so generous with their time and sharing their vast knowledge with an eager group of writers.”
Joanne C. Hillhouse adds that: “Artists need space to create; not just physical space but mental space – a retreat like Mount Tabor provides both. It has the potential because of this to attract not only local writers but with proper support and promotion writers from other places. I’m thrilled to have been a part of it over the years and feel myself growing as a facilitator even as those I tutor grow in their strengths as writers.”
The participants attended workshops on ‘Editing’, ‘Poetry Writing and Performance’ and ‘Starting to write’’ READ the full report at Antigua Chronicle (which, sidebar, you may remember has a former Wadadli Pen winner as its editor and publisher)
Congrats to Just Write – writers, co-facilitators, founder Brenda Lee Browne, on another successful year.
Each year Just Write offers a spot to a winning Wadadli Pen writer. Tiffany Smith, front right, has been one such prize recipient. I’m happy to announce that a spot at the next Just Write Writers’ Retreat is part of the 2016 Challenge prize package. With thanks to founder of Just Write, Brenda Lee Browne.
Tip: Wadadli Pen will be launched in January 2014launched on January 3rd 2014 and will have has roughly a submission timeline of one month (submission deadline for the Lit Arts Challenge is January 31st 2014; the registration deadline for the Visual Arts Challenge is January 31st 20114). We will not be accepting entries until after the launch in January 2014 but that doesn’t mean you can’t start writing now are now accepting entries.
Tip2: It is recommended that you read past winning pieces; not to copy them but to get an idea of the quality and range of writing we strive to inspire via this Challenge. And then eclipse that.
Tip3: Submit only your best effort; often that’s not to be found in the first draft. Take time to review and redraft as necessary before submitting.
Literary Arts
Entries may be either fiction or poetry of no more than 600 words. Creative non-fiction will be considered as well…but make sure they’re C.R.E.A.T.I.V.E. (and be sure to indicate if a submitted piece is creative non-fiction as opposed to fiction)
Entries must, however, be Caribbean in spirit. Let’s talk about this. The idea is to dig deep and unearth new soil but make sure it’s our rich Caribbean soil. So that, even if the story is set in outerspace or in some space that exists only in fantasy, it must be rooted in the Caribbean imagination – inspired by who we are, authentically, and inarguably a Caribbean tale (not to be confused with a tale riddled with superficial Caribbean clichés).
Entries must be original (creative: exploring new themes or coming at familiar themes in fresh ways) and previously unpublished.
Each writer is allowed up to three entries.
Entries must be submitted electronically, in Microsoft Word format, to wadadlipen@yahoo.com (either as an attachment or copied into the body of the email) with the subject line ‘WADADLI PEN LITERARY ARTS CHALLENGE 2014’ plus the author’s initials – e.g. WADADLI PEN LITERARY ARTS CHALLENGE 2014 JCH. Attachments without the appropriate subject line will not be opened.
Do not include your name or other identifier on the story; submit contact info – name, gender, age, school or workplace, email, phone, address, and parent/guardian if under 18 – on a separate cover sheet; which will also include a short bio and story summary (no more than five lines each).
We are having for the first time a Lead by Example Teacher’s Prize open to writing-teachers of all ages; while there is no age limit for the teachers’ prize, stories in this category can also be considered in the main prize categories if the teachers is 35 years or younger. If this applies to you, please indicate your age, profession (teacher), and school. For the Lead by Example Teacher’s Prize you are encouraged to create a story that you can (and will) share with your class if victorious in this contest (and hopefully even if you’re not). Given this guideline, teachers are encouraged to consider the age group of their target audience (your class) when crafting their stories.
Judges will provide feedback/edit notes on short listed entries and writers will be encouraged to review, revise and resubmit as you would be required to do during the publication process in the industry.
Be sure to declare that you are the creator and owner of the story submitted and that you are granting permission for its use to the Wadadli Youth pen Prize. Be sure to review our Terms of Reference before submitting.
Joint submissions are acceptable but all names must be listed and winners will have to divide the prizes among themselves (there will not be duplication of prizes).
Any legal resident or citizen of Antigua and Barbuda may enter, provided he/she is 35 years or younger. Antiguans and Barbudans not resident on the island have and may enter provided they can designate a resident Antiguan and Barbudan to collect their winnings; prizes will not be shipped overseas.
Contingent on the quality of the entries, winners will be selected in the 12 and under, 13 to 17, and 18 to 35 age categories, with three overall best writers being selected as well – these may come from any of the age categories. A first time Lead by Example Teacher’s Prize will also be given for the winning entry by someone (of any age) from the teaching profession.
Visual Arts
Participating artists will be required to create covers for shortlisted entries.
Artists within the targetted age group (35 and younger) are invited to register (once we launch in January 2014); do so by submitting your name, age, gender, school or workplace, a short bio (no more than 5 lines), contact info (phone and email or parent’s contact where applicable) to wadadlipen@yahoo.com and you will be contacted once the shortlist is ready (after the first round of judging for the literary arts section) and given the guidelines necessary to create the cover art.
When registering for the art contest, use the subject line WADADLI PEN COVER ART CHALLENGE 2014 plus the aspiring artist’s initials (e.g. WADADLI PEN COVER ART CHALLENGE 2014 JCH) and copy your name, age, contact info into the body of the email. Attachments will not be opened.
Do not submit art work until you have received the specific guidelines via email after registering.
When that time comes, do not include your name or other identifier on any art submission.
Each registered artist will be required to complete at least two art pieces/cover options.
Judges will provide feedback/edit notes on short listed entries and artists will be encouraged to review, revise and resubmit as you would be required to do during the publication process in the industry.
You will need to declare that you are the creator and owner of any art work submitted and that you are granting permission for its use to the Wadadli Youth pen Prize. Be sure to review our Terms of Reference before submitting.
Joint submissions are acceptable but all names must be listed and winners will have to divide the prizes among themselves (there will not be duplication of prizes).
Any legal resident or citizen of Antigua and Barbuda may enter, provided he/she is 35 years or younger. Antiguans and Barbudans not resident on the island have and may enter provided they can designate a resident Antiguan and Barbudan to collect their winnings; prizes will not be shipped overseas.
Contingent on the quality of the entries, three art pieces will be ranked for reward; but any of the art pieces may be posted with the stories for which they were created at the discretion of the coordinator of Wadadli Pen. Artists will be credited.
Wadadli Pen is being undertaken with the support of various partners and patrons; please visit our Thank You page where re recognize not only those who have pledged to help in 2014 but those who have assisted over the years.
N.B. Entries for the Wadadli Pen 2014 Challenge will not be accepted before the launch in January 2014. But feel free to review both Terms and Guidelines, and start writing now.
The Wadadli Youth Pen Prize, hereinafter referred to as Wadadli Pen, is designed to encourage the literary (and visual) arts and to create as many avenues as possible for showcasing some of the best young writers (and artists) coming out of Antigua and Barbuda.
Wadadli Pen provides opportunities for young writers (and artists) out of Antigua and Barbuda to be celebrated as winners of its annual Challenge.
But Wadadli Pen aspires to be more than a contest; from the beginning its goal has been not only to showcase but to nurture young Antiguan and Barbudan literary talent. As such, stories and poems will be reviewed by our judges and, if shortlisted, will be returned with judges’ comments for editing before final selection. Writers will have final say re edits to their submissions; but are expected to participate in this process as we strive to assist in strengthening the pieces where necessary. As would happen during the publishing process, the same applies to shortlisted art pieces which in 2014 are cover designs for short listed stories. See details re Wadadli Pen Guidelines for 2014 here.
Winning pieces will be posted on https://wadadlipen.wordpress.com and may be published in other formats and on other sites. As such, with your submission, you grant Wadadli pen first publication rights and non-exclusive rights to re-publish and share after that with your byline and bio (i.e. all due credit given). It is understood that beyond the prizes you collect as Wadadli Pen winners no additional compensation will be due from Wadadli Pen, its organizers/partners, or patrons. That said, your copyright remains your own and we will respect that; posting and/or publishing the winning works not for personal profit but for promotional, educational, and/or fundraising purposes in support of the Wadadli Pen programme. You are free, after first publication at https://wadadlipen.wordpress.com to republish your pieces as desired. We request that you reference https://wadadlipen.wordpress.com when doing so.
If you are selected as a winner, you accept that your image will be used in spotlighting the Wadadli Pen Challenge and its outcome. You accept as well that you may be called upon to make media appearances as well as readings at the request of the organizers of Wadadli Pen in the interest of promoting you – the writer, the contest, and the literary arts in Antigua and Barbuda. These appearances are, of course, subject to your availability.
Wadadli Pen is being undertaken with the support of various partners and patrons; please visit our Thank You page where re recognize not only those who have pledged to help in 2014 but those who have assisted over the years.
Wadadli Pen 