A new award that recognises excellence in Caribbean Literature among young adults has been launched and will see the winner taking away Cdn$10,000 and a guaranteed purchase of 3,000 copies of his/her book.
The Burt Award for Caribbean Literature was last Saturday launched in Port of Spain Trinidad and Tobago at the NGC Bocas Literature Fest.
Established by the Canadian Organization for Development through Education (CODE) in collaboration with William Burt, an education philanthropist, and the Literary Prizes Foundation the award will kick off this year and is accepting submissions from publishers from May13 to August 23 of this year. The winners will be announced at the Bocas Literature fest in April next year.
The award will be given annually to three English language literary works for young adults by Caribbean authors. The second and third prizes are $7,000 and $5000 respectively along with the guaranteed purchase of 3,000 copies of the winners’ books, which will be distributed throughout the Caribbean.
A release from officials of the award quoted the Executive Director Scott Walker as saying “In the Caribbean, as in many other places around the world, the call for quality, locally authored reading materials for young people is constantly growing. Supporting the development of books that reflect the lives of readers, providing opportunities for emerging writers to develop and showcase their talents and stimulating the growth of the regional publishing sector are crucial. And that’s exactly what this award aims to do… address these issues by celebrating the literary achievements of the Caribbean authors and improving young readers’ access to books that are engaging and meaningful to them.”
Walter opined that often the only books Caribbean youth have access to are textbooks they use in school, which don’t encourage them to develop a love for reading. It is envisioned that the 3,000 books distributed will get into the hands of young people in schools, libraries and community organisations across the Caribbean.
