Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

Amina Blackwood-Meeks - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

After hosting its writers' retreat in Negril,Westmoreland, last year, the U.K.-based Women into Literature, Enterprise and Development (WILDE) International Network is expanding its reach in Jamaica with its second National Creative Writing Competition.

Stimulates writers

Intended to stimulate new writers, the WiSPA Creative Writing Prize is open to Jamaican female poetry and short story writers, 16 years and older, who have never had their work published.

Mike Brooks, facilitator for WILDE in Jamaica, told The Gleaner that entrants are restricted to three pieces in each category. "Each one will be assessed as an individual piece," Brooks said. "It is the entry that is assessed and not necessarily the person."

Also listed as facilitators on the organisation's website are storyteller Amina Blackwood-Meeks and poet Sajoya Alcott.

The prize money for the winner, $20,000, is the same for both categories, and entrants can submit work in both. The deadline for submission is September 30, and the winners will be announced on November 24. This is during WiSPA 2007, the annual writer's retreat which will again take place in Negril from November 12 to 26.

Brooks said entries are to be submitted by email to wispa@wilde2000.org.uk. "You are required as early as possible to indicate your intention to enter," Brooks said, adding that the initial email should include the category or categories and number of pieces that will be submitted. This will assist in structuring the competition and Brooks stated that "a wide cross section of judges will be assessing".

"A lot of persons from the poetry nights are excited and gung ho," Brooks said. He said that the WILDE International Network initiative in Jamaica is based in Negril originally "and we are extending it to the wider amateur literary community".

In addition to the prize money, the winners of the WiSPA Creative Writing Prize will be published in the JustWrite anthology and given coaching/mentoring by more experienced writers. On the organisation's website, Sonya Smith, United States coordinator, said "we envisage this competition will grow over time and be recognised as one of the top prize of its kind, in terms of both prestige and prize money".