The Guyana Annual has reintroduced contests for the content that will be featured in its 2018 edition, which will include new Photography, Journalism, Cartoon, Drama and Oil and Gas categories.
The announcement was made during a press briefing on Friday at Guyenterprise, which is responsible for the magazine’s publication.
With the new additions, the publishers are seeking entries in 11 categories.
In addition to the Open Short Story, the Junior Short Story, the Open Poetry and the Junior Poetry categories, the 2018 edition will also inaugurate the conferral of awards, named after individuals who have had a great amount of influence on the arts locally, in six categories: the Sheila King Award for Short Stories for Children, the Bobby Fernandes Award for Photography, the Stephanie Correia Award for Fine Arts, the David de Caires Prize for Journalism, the Hawley Harris Prize for Cartooning and the Bertram Charles Prize for Drama.
It will also introduce an Oil and Gas essay competition, which is being sponsored by Dr Tulsi Dyal Singh, who is credited for resuscitating The Guyana Annual in 1998, along with Petamber Persaud, who has been the magazine’s editor since 2004.
“For the 2018 edition the Committee of Management has decided to reintroduce the competitions aspect that was a hallmark of the publications over the years, contributing to the growth of Guyana’s Cultural Traditions and Heritage, by giving amateur writers and artists a platform to shine,” a release from the body stated.
Not only is Dr Singh credited for his lead role in resuscitating the magazine—first launched in 1916—but also the initiative to include the now relevant topic of Oil and Gas into the competition sphere.
This new category of competition is being sponsored by Dr Singh, and has a first place prize of $250,000, with the second and third place winners to receive prizes of $100,000 and $50,000, respectively. There will also be five honourable mentions that will be awarded $10,000 each.
“With the advent of Guyana’s newest frontier, the oil and gas sector, Dr Singh has decades long association with the oil and gas sector in the USA as an investor, a royalty owner, chairman of a small energy corporation, director of two banks serving the oil and gas industry and a former three term president of the Permian basin petroleum museum, library and hall of fame,” Shamshun Mohamed stated on Friday.
The Guyana Annual was described as a “literary institution” by Allan Fenty at Friday’s briefing. Fenty once served as an editor of the magazine. “…It was to stimulate young Guyanese into writing both from a journalistic nature to more literary and artistic and such works,” he said of the periodical.
The closing date for competition entries is November 30. Additional details and competition rules can be accessed on The Guyana Annual Facebook page or uplifted from Guyenterprise, at 234 Lance Gibbs and Irving streets.
Entries can be submitted through email at theguyanaannual@gmail.com or in hard copy.
The Guyana Annual 2018 edition will be available next February.
