FIRST ANNUAL BSHD NGO SHARE BOTSWANA TOURISM FICTION AWARD
2016 CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Botswana Society for Human Development invites writers to submit tourism fiction – short stories and poetry. The main objective of this award is to encourage domestic tourism in Botswana. Therefore, submissions should be set in real tourism attractions in Botswana. If you have not been to a place, research it thoroughly to get a clear picture of how it looks and set your story there. This is important as brief travel guides will be published with winning submissions. As for poetry, let’s have poems of praise ‘poko’, about real tourism attractions. The tourism attractions can be popular or unpopular as long they are real, but be as creative as you want.
Prizes: 6 winning entries (3 short stories and 3 poems) will receive Share Botswana branded gifts by Ina Lebe. 15 shortlisted entries will be published in the 2016 Share Botswana Tourism Fiction Anthology. Other prizes for the winning entries will range from one to two nights’ accommodation at a given lodge or hotel or tourism activities like game drives, bird watching and boat cruises. Vouchers will be handed out at the award ceremony, as agreed by BSHD NGO, competition judges and sponsors.
Judging: The Award aims to support and award excellence in the tourism fiction genre, hence judging of the Award will be as follows:

Stage 1: All entries will be judged by a team of established writers against the Award criterion. Judges will select, longlist approximately the best thirty (30) entrants. 10 will be poetry and 20 short fiction. These will be announced on the BSHD NGO web and social sites.

Stage 2: The judging panel will go through the works of the longlisted entrants and select a shortlist of ten outstanding tourism fiction works (10) and (5) poetry pieces submitted for the Award.

Stage 3: The judging panel will select a winning and two runner-up short stories, as well as one winning and two runner-up poetry entries.

Stage 4: Shortlisted and winning writers will be contacted by email before the results are published on the BSHD NGO web and social sites. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. The judging will be fair and independent. The judging panel will be appointed by BSHD NGO and its strategic partners.

Eligibility and Entry rules

1. Entry is open to all residents of Botswana.
2. Entrants must be aged 18 years or over.
3. Entries must be made by the writer.
4. Submissions should be sent to bshdgaborone@gmail.com with the subject “Share Botswana/Title of Short Story”
5. BSHD NGO will accept stories from Sept 1. The deadline for receipt of entries is 30 September 2016 (12 noon GMT). The shortlist will be announced on October 20. Winners will be announced on October 30. All shortlisted entrants are expected to attend an editing workshop on November 15 in Gaborone. The Award Ceremony will be held on December 1, 2016.
6. Only one entry per writer may be submitted.
7. The story must be the entrant’s own work.
8. The story must be original and should not have been previously published anywhere, including online, in full or in part.
9. All entries must be in English.
10. Entries must be 1 200 words minimum, 2000 words maximum.
11. Entries should be attached as Microsoft Word documents.
12. A short bio of not more than 100 words should accompany the submission, written in the body of the email.
13. The submission should include the author’s full name, nationality, email address and phone number. 14. All entries should be submitted in Times New Roman 12 point font, double line spacing.
14. The story should be adult fiction. No children’s stories will be accepted.
15. Entrants agree as a condition of entry that the prize organisers may publicise the fact that a story has been entered or shortlisted for the Prize.
16. Worldwide copyright of each story remains with the writer. BSHD NGO will have the unrestricted right to publish the winning and shortlisted stories and poems in a compilation, on their web and social sites, and for promotional purposes.
17. The overall winners and runners-up will be expected by BSHD BGO and its Partners to take part in publicity activities where possible, including on social media.

REMEMBER: Tourism fiction is a genre of fiction that is written to generate tourism to specific areas and places. This is done by setting the fictional stories in real attractions. Tourism fiction refers to modern works written to specifically promote tourism.