Festival Overview
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Event Schedule
Schedule
9;00 - 15:00Nov 19: JBF x Reading and Reasonings - Int'l Men’s Day Edition
By Joel Nomdarkham Director of Marketing
The Jamaica Book Festival Young Writers’ Prize 2024
Calling young writers in grades 9 to 13! Whether you write short stories, poems or essays, the inaugural Jamaica Book Festival Young Writers’ Prize is looking to reward exceptional talent. Tell us your story – we want to see the magic you can create!
Submission window
October 21 to November 11, 2024
Categories
The JBF Young Writers’ Prize has three categories. You may only apply in one category.
Fiction (prose): For fiction, submit a short story of 1,000 words or less on a topic of your choice.
Poetry: For poetry, submit a collection of three poems on a topic of your choice.
Nonfiction (essays): For non-fiction, submit a personal essay of 1,000 words or less on a topic of your choice.
(Submissions made after November 11 will not be considered.)
The Prize
Winners of each category will receive a cash prize of 30,000 JMD and access to mentorship.
Eligibility
- Open to Jamaican high school students in grades 9 to 12.
- Work submitted must be original. All submissions will be checked for plagiarism. Any plagiarised content will result in automatic disqualification.
- Participants may enter in only one category.
- Word count must include all text including headers, footers, and titles.
- Participating students must have a writing mentor or teacher who will serve as the point of contact.
- Homeschooled students may use a parent/guardian as their reference if they do not have a mentor or teacher.
- Works of an extreme sexual or violent nature will not be considered.
- Winners will be contacted by December 2 and be publicly announced at the Jamaica Book Festival’s Book Fair on December 8.
