Writing Competition: Inspiration from Africa During the Covid-Crisis

The pandemic continues to tighten its grip on Africa, as elsewhere.  Every death matters and statistics sometimes seem hollow.  Equally, fixation on casualties amongst high-profile personalities could be construed as callous.  But at least it tells us something about the indiscriminate nature of the virus.

In southern Africa, some well-known politicians have succumbed to the disease.  On 13^th December 2020, Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini of Eswatini died, four weeks after testing positive for Covid-19.  On 12^th January 2021, Malawi lost two ministers on the same day – Lingson Berekanyama (Local Government) and Sidik Mia (Transport).  On 20^th January 2021, Zimbabwe’s foreign minister Sibusiso Moyo also became one of the region’s high-profile victims.  Moyo, a former army officer, became famous as the face of the 2017 coup against former president Robert Mugabe.  His Covid-related death follows that of Perence Shiri, previously agriculture minister and head of the Air Force of Zimbabwe, in July 2020.  Shiri was one of the architects of the coup against Mugabe.

RIP to all of them and to the many thousands of other victims, across Africa and the rest of the world.  And condolences to their loved ones.

It is sometimes challenging to remain positive in the face of such unrelenting tragic news.  But the human spirit is nothing if not resilient.  Much else has been happening in Africa during the pandemic.  And this has inspired us at Africa Integrity to launch our first writing competition.

We are now calling for competition entries on the theme of: Inspiration from Africa During the Covid-Crisis.  There are, of course, many inspiring stories from health and other front-line workers during this pandemic.  But this is not the place for them.  We are looking for stories that have happened during the pandemic but are unrelated to it.  We wish to showcase the creativity, imagination and drive of the African people in a time of adversity.

The writer of the winning entry shall receive a cash-prize of £250.00 and their work will be published in Africa Integrity’s newsletter, as well as on our website.  We would like to receive as many entries as possible, so please share this with everyone you know who loves to write.

The competition rules are as follows:

1. Entry is open to all writers, published and unpublished, from any background and of any age.
2. The work must be original, unagented and not submitted for publication elsewhere.
3. Copyright to the selected entry shall pass to Africa Integrity Services Ltd, in return for the consideration of the prize-money.
4. Entries must be submitted no later than 1800 GMT on 15^th September 2021.
5. Entries should be submitted in Word format to africaintegrity@africa-integrity.com.
6. The subject-line of the email should be “Africa Integrity Writing Competition 2021”.
7. A covering email should contain the name, age and address of the contributor, as well as a statement of acceptance of these terms.  Any entries that do not include such an acceptance shall be automatically rejected.
8. The minimum word-count is 1000 and the maximum is 1500, including the title.
9. The theme Inspiration from Africa During the Covid-Crisis should not be used as a title.
10. The winner will be notified by 15^th October 2021 and their work shall be published shortly thereafter.

We are excited to read the many entries that we anticipate receiving.  Good luck.

This article originally featured in Africa Integrity’s January 2021 Newsletter. To join our newsletter mailing list, please contact us.