Opening date: October 17, 2023
(For any entry or eligibility queries not covered below, please email info@caribmagplus.com for clarification before submitting an entry.)
Entrants must be citizens of a Caribbean or Central American Country, or descended from a Caribbean/Central American country by no more than two generations. I.E, as far back as your grandparents.
See list of eligible countries below:
CARIBBEAN ISLANDS
Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Saba, Saint Barthelemy, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands
CENTRAL AMERICA
Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela.
There is no age restriction for entry into the Contest.
Submissions must be in English, or if in your native language, must be translated to English on the same submission script.
Entries will not be accepted from judges of the Competition or from individuals employed at Caribbean Magazine Plus
Entries must be submitted via the online entry form at: https://www.caribmagplus.com/short-story-contest-2023/
The Caribbean Magazine Plus will request verification of citizenship status before winners are selected. Entries from people that are not citizens of non-Caribbean and Central American countries, or descended from those countries as described above are not eligible.
Entries must be unpublished and remain unpublished in any language until February 26, 2023
Only one entry per writer may be submitted for the Caribbean Magazine Plus Short Story Contest – the story must be the entrant’s own work. The story must be original work and should not have been published anywhere, in full or in part, in any language, before February, 2023. All submissions are final.
Entries must be 3,000 words minimum, 5,000 words maximum (not including title). Entries should be uploaded in a Word or PDF document. Please save your document as a PDF or Word and use the title of the story or the entrants name as the file name.
**If paying on behalf of an entrant, please ensure that the script submitted must have the name of the person paying saved as the script** For example, if John Smith is paying for Jane Doe, the script must be saved as “John Smith” but the name on the script must be that of the writer, in this instance Jane Doe.
Agreement
The ‘Rules of Entry’ as defined here for the Caribbean Magazine Plus’s Short Story Contest 2023 (Rules) incorporate the Competition’s ‘Terms and Conditions’ (Terms). The Terms shall govern in event of conflict. By submitting an entry, you agree to be bound by the Rules and Terms of the Competition.
Competition deadline
The final closing date for entries into the Caribbean Magazine Plus Short Story Contest, 2022 is on February 26, 2023 at 11:59pm in any time zone.
Entering the Competition
Entries must be made via the Competition’s online form and must include:
Entrant’s name
Entrant’s nationality
Entrant’s current residence
Entrant’s email address
Entrant’s cellular contact
If your submitted story adheres to the Rules and Terms of the Competition it will be approved and will be evaluated accordingly.
An email notification that your entry has been submitted will be sent to the email provided at submission.
Judging process
Criteria for judging will be based on:
How impactful the short story is; and
Originality of the submission
There is no direct theme and writers are encouraged to explore their range of ideas.
Judging
A panel consisting of lead evaluator, Dr Nicola Hunt of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill along with Caribbean Magazine Plus staff will shortlist submissions and finalize.
Announcement of Winners
The overall winner and finalist will be announced on the Caribbean Magazine Plus’s website and related social media accounts.
The decision of the judges is final. No correspondence will be entered into. All finalists will be notified by email on/by April 30, 2023.
The winner will be named the Caribbean Magazine Plus’s “Writer of Writer’s”, and will receive a cash prize of $750 (USD), the second place finalist will receive $300 (USD) and the third place finalist $200 (USD).
All entrants agree that their submissions may be used in a compilation book of this year’s submissions.
For all enquiries regarding the Caribbean Magazine Plus Short Story Contest 2023, please contact: info@caribmagplus.com
About Dr Nicola Hunt
Dr Nicola Hunte is a lecturer in the Literatures in English discipline at the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies. With her interest in the creative arts, she serves as the editor of POUi, Cave Hill’s journal of creative writing as well as on the Frank Collymore Literary Endowment committee for the promotion of literary arts in Barbados. She has published in the area of literary criticism on Caribbean and African American texts in Shibboleths, an online journal of comparative theory, and the Journal of West Indian Literature (JWIL). Her critical work has also touched on popular culture, specific to Barbadian expression on and offline. Her research focus includes the critical texts of Guyanese writer/theorist Wilson Harris and speculative fiction, particularly from the Caribbean and the African cultural diaspora.
