GAMWRITERS

UNIVERSITY OF THE GAMBIA, OFFICE OF THE UNIVERSITY REGISTRAR

CHANCELLOR LITERARY AWARD

By Dr Pierre Gomez, Senior Lecturer, University of The Gambia

RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR THE CHANCELLOR LITERARY AWARD

Preamble:

Apart from prolific luminaries like Dr Lenrie Peters, Dr Tijan Sallah and Nana Grey-Johnson, it is evident that people hardly succumb to the urge to take up writing either as a part time or full time career in The Gambia. This is where we fall far behind countries like Ghana, Nigeria and even neighbouring Senegal, where a book is thrown into circulation almost every twenty-four hours. So if we do not act now this gap will keep widening and The Gambia will continue to occupy an unenviable place in the world’s literary arena.

 As a matter of fact, the rationale behind the conception of The Chancellor Literary Award goes beyond the desire to curb the malaise already mentioned. We believe that this award scheme will not fail to goad both potential indigenous and non-indigenous writers to snatch their pens and produce works in all divisions of literature. This optimism does not stem from the pecuniary gains the awardee shall receive, but rather from the conviction that hardly is there any form of honour to be bestowed on a writer than make him or her attain planetary recognition.

We are not oblivious of the plethora of constraints that writing is beset with in The Gambia, but at the same time, we should not let these impediments plunge us into helpless passivity. If I do not write, if you do not write, if we do not write, if they do not write, how can our beautiful culture and history, our cohesive and wholesome socio-political heritage be revealed to the world.

Furthermore, it is also envisaged that The Chancellor Literary Award could have a motivating effect on budding writers especially the youths who need to be encouraged as future generation to take up writing either as a hobby or a profession.

In addition, considering the lack of adequate culturally Gambian biased reading material, this Award as a motivating factor can be a catalyst for generating more reading materials for the wider public both nationally and internationally.

Below are the rules and regulations governing The Chancellor Literary Award.

ARTICLE 1: It shall henceforth come into existence a literary award called The Chancellor Literary Award.

ARTICLE 2: The Chancellor Literary Award is created to:

• Honour and award, in the area of letters, the Gambian or non-Gambian writer resident in The Gambia who is deemed worthy by the quality of his work;
  
• Stimulate creative writing;
  
• Promote the development of literature;
  
• Contribute to the strengthening of literature in the Gambia
  

ARTICLE 3: The award, valued at 1^st prize =  D250 000; 2^nd prize = D150 000; 3^rd prize =  D50 000;  And accompanied by a certificate and other forms of promotion, shall be given out each year.

 ARTICLE 4: The contest shall be in the following forms of production: novel, poetry, short stories, novella and drama.

 ARTICLE 5: Criteria for jurors:

• A local committee selected by the Vice Chancellor comprising 5 members mainly from the Department of Humanities shall shortlist the applicants;
  
• The Chancellor Jury shall consist of 7 members – 4 local and 3 international. The jury shall include academics of high standing, writers of various genres and literary critics. There shall be at least a female representative.
  

ARTICLE 6: For a work to be considered, it should not have been published three years or more before the award date.

ARTICLE 7: Each candidate or publisher experiencing publication difficulties can present a duplicated manuscript, considered an excellent work by its committee of readers.

ARTICLE 8: the authors could present works in each of the areas cited in article 4.

ARTICLE 9: To be able to contest, the author or publisher shall fill a participation form to be returned to the Registry Office along with seven (7) duplicates of the work presented before the date stipulated for closure of the contest.

ARTICLE 10: The award shall be attributed by a panel whose members shall be designated by the Vice Chancellor in relation to their competence. The chairman of the panel, who shall be chosen and nominated within the selected members by the Vice Chancellor will, de facto, be the head of the secretariat.

ARTICLE 11: The Vice Chancellor, upon the suggestion of the Chairman of the panel, shall consider any member of the panel, who does not fulfil his obligations as member within the period of the said year, as having resigned.

ARTICLE 12: The panel shall first meet to select seven works whose titles shall be made public and it shall meet a second time to confer the award. The method of voting shall be fixed without appeal by the panel. Where there is a tie in the votes, the Chairman shall have the casting vote in the third round.

ARTICLE 13: The minutes of each meeting shall be signed by each member of the panel and a copy of this be forwarded to the Chancellor of the University of The Gambia by the Vice Chancellor.

ARTICLE 14: The Jury reserves the right:

• Not to confer the award in cases where the work lacks the quality required ;  
  
• To confer the award to an author who did not register for the contest.
  

ARTICLE 15: The award shall be presented by the Chancellor of the University of The Gambia during an official ceremony.

ARTICLE 16: Other regulations not addressed in this legal document shall be examined by the panel.

ARTICLE 17: Decisions made by the panel shall be final and not subject to any appeal.

ARTICLE 18: Participation in the contest implies complete acceptance of this legal document.