The Toyin Falola Prize is administered by the literary magazine Lunaris Review. The prize is named after and presented in honor of Toyin Falola, Nigerian historian and distinguished professor of African Studies who has published over 100 books.
Submissions are currently being accepted for the inaugural prize. In an email to Brittle Paper, the TFP co-ordinator Tololupe Oke reveals that there has been a few updates.
The monetary award for the prize have been increased from $700 to $1,000. In addition, the winner gets a fully-funded travel trip to attend the BIGSAS Festival of African and African-Diasporic Literature in Bayreuth, Germany.
The deadline for submissions have also been extended to May 31.
Submission Guidelines:
1. The short story must be creatively inclined towards the historicity of an African place, people, time or event; however this is done is solely left to the imagination and creativity of the writer. Creative and genre-bending submissions are highly welcomed. All genres of stories are encouraged (including those hard to categorize) except erotica and chic-lit.
2. Witty language and humour are especially welcomed.
3. The narratives can be either factual or fiction, or the mixture of both; however, the genre must be clearly indicated by the entrant, which does not in any way influence/constrain the chances of the submission, as originality, creativity, and delivery are principal criteria.
4. The writer should not be below the age of 15 nor above 35 at the time of submission.
5. There is no limit to the number of words; however, we would prefer submissions within the range of 1,500 – 6, 000 words.
6. We do not accept more than an entry per writer/submission.
7. All entrants must be African, that is, the writer should either be born in Africa or have either of the two parents as African.
8. All submissions must be the original work of the entrants, previously unpublished in any form and not under consideration for publication or prize somewhere else. That means we do not accept translated works or simultaneous submission. Note: Published means either online in any form or on any platform.
9. All submissions should be sent to prize@lunaris.com.ng with the subject SUBMISSION FOR THE TOYIN FALOLA PRIZE.
10. All submissions should be attached as doc. file, named as the title of the submission (without the name of the entrant) and formatted in 1.5 line spacing, Book Antiqua theme font with font size 12. Note: Other file formats would not be considered for the prize.
11. Also, the body of the submission email should not contain the bio of the entrant, just the title of the submission, word count, genre and contact information. Bios of the entrants would be requested upon selection. The file itself should not indicate the name or any identifying detail of the entrant.
12. By submitting to the prize, the entrant gives Pan-African University Press the exclusive right (or as determined by PAUP) to edit and publish their works upon selection for longlist in the ensuing anthology of the prize.
13. No member or relative of the Lunaris Review Team and Pan-African University Press would be considered for the Prize.
All Inquiries should be directed to the administrators via prize@lunaris.com.ng