Pen/HSBC/New Africa Books Short Story Competition
The South African Centre of International PEN and New Africa Books intend to publish a series of annual volumes of new creative writing by writers living in South Africa and in other SADC countries.

They wish to encourage young writers to express the vitality and diversity of our Southern African society through lively literature for a global audience. They're looking for creative material of universal literary appeal and not for political, partisan or sectarian tracts. For the first book, NEW WRITING FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA 2005, they seek contributions in the form of short stories only. These must be written in English.

CLOSING DATE : 30 November 2004
PRIZE : HSBC Bank will award US$10,000 each year for an initial period of three years, for three ranked annual prizes of $5,000, $3,000 and $2,000 for the contributions judged to be the best entries annually, and will reserve the right to extend this arrangement at its sole discretion.
RULES:
Entries will be restricted to writers born in 1964 or later. Any citizen of South Africa or of the SADC countries is eligible to enter. The prizes of US $5,000, $3,000 and $2,000, will be awarded for the three best short stories (winner, first runner-up; second runner-up) selected by the Editorial Board.
All stories must be original works in English, hitherto unpublished, of not less than 2,500 words and not more than 4,000 words. No previously published work will be acceptable.
Entries should be typed in double spacing on one side only of A4 paper. Pages should be numbered and fastened securely together. No name, address or other identifying mark should appear on the typescript other than the title of the story on each page. Three copies should be submitted.
A covering letter with the name, address and photocopy of ID of the entrant should be included.
Submissions will not be returned, so entrants are advised to keep a copy. An entry implies acceptance of all the rules and conditions of the project. Failure to comply will result in disqualification.
An Editorial Board, to include Nobel Laureate Professor J M Coetzee, will be appointed jointly by HSBC, South African PEN and New Africa Books. Judges will select the entries to be included in the book as well as the winner of the HSBC/PEN Literary Prize. The judges' decision will be final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into. All entries will be judged anonymously. PEN and New Africa Books will ensure that the name of the author does not appear on material submitted to the Editorial Board. Identity will be recorded by means of a confidential coding system.
In all cases, the copyright shall remain with the author, but South African PEN shall reserve the right to allow stories from the book to be published in the magazines PEN INTERNATIONAL or PEN NEWS or in anthology form. HSBC, PEN and New Africa Books also reserve the right not to publish or award should the general standard of submission be unacceptable to them. Royalties on the sale of the volumes of NEW WRITING FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA - 2005 will not accrue to individual writers.
New Africa Books cannot undertake to make corrections or amendments to any typescript submitted. Nor, while they will take great care of typescripts, can they be responsible for any that are damaged or lost while in the post.
NEW WRITING FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA - 2005 will be launched officially in 2005 at a time and place to be publicised. At this function the literary prizes of US $5,000, $3,000 and$2,000, exclusively the right and reserve of HSBC, will be awarded. HSBC and PEN will also have the right to be directly involved in the process of distribution, marketing and promotion through all media. The book will be marketed in this country and abroad, and will also be publicised by International PEN which has 130 centres throughout the world.
Submissions should be sent to: NEW WRITING FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA, NEW AFRICA BOOKS, P O Box 23408, Claremont 7735, Cape Town, South Africa