Entry Rules for the 31st Gratiaen Prize for Creative Writing in English Presented by Michael Ondaatje

The Gratiaen Prize

1. The Prize of Sri Lankan Rupees 300,000 will be awarded to the best work of creative writing in English by a Sri Lankan citizen resident in Sri Lanka, published for the first time in 2023, or unpublished and ready for publication at the time of entry.
2. Creative writing eligible for the prize includes novels, collections of short stories, poetry, drama and other genres such as autobiography/ life writing, biography, travelogues and memoirs with significant literary content.
3. Entries for the Prize may be submitted by writers or publishers of the work.
4. The Entries will be judged by an independent panel of judges appointed by the Trustees.

Entries

Four (04) copies of each book or manuscript entered should be delivered to The Chairperson, The Gratiaen Trust, c/o Marga Institute, 941/1, Jayanthi Mawatha, Kotte Road, Etul Kotte, (Monday – Friday, 8.30 am – 4.30 pm), between 1st – 31st December 2023. Entries close on 31st December 2023.

Rules

Eligibility for The Gratiaen Prize:

1. The Prize will be awarded to the best work of creative writing in English by a Sri Lankan resident in Sri Lanka, aged 16 years or over, published for the first time in 2023 or unpublished and ready for publication at the time of entry.
2. Creative writing eligible for the prize includes novels, collections of short stories, poetry, drama and other genres such as autobiography/ life writing, biography, travelogues and memoirs with significant literary content.
3. Entries for the Prize may be submitted either by the writer or by the publishers of the work. The maximum number of entries per writer shall be two (02).

General

1. Entries will be judged by an independent panel of judges appointed by the Trustees.
2. The judges shall not be obliged to name a winner if they are of the opinion that none of the entries submitted merits the Prize.
3. The writers should be Sri Lankan citizens who are permanently resident in Sri Lanka aged 16 years or over. Writers who are citizens of Sri Lanka but have not been continuously resident in Sri Lanka during the year 2023 should give full particulars regarding their residence abroad to enable the Trustees to determine their eligibility for the prize. Writers enjoying dual citizenship should establish that their principal country of residence is Sri Lanka. The final decision regarding eligibility under the criterion of citizenship rests with the Bord of Trustees.
4. Entries may include works published for the first time in 2023 and unpublished works ready for publication. For this purpose, “publication” refers to works printed and available for sale to the public. The date of first publication should be the date given in the book. In the case of play scripts, if there was a production prior to submission, the date of first production will be taken
5. as date of publication. Entries submitted for the Prize should be original works, should be of reasonable length, and should not have been submitted earlier for the Prize. Books submitted earlier for the prize cannot be re-submitted. In the case of manuscripts, re-submission is possible but only after significant revision, evidence of which should be attached to the Entry form with descriptions of
6. the changes together with the earlier manuscript. Entries being re-submitted on the basis of “significant revisions” shall be accepted at the discretion of the Trustees having evaluated the
7. revisions and being satisfied that the entry may be deemed “new”. If the entry is an unpublished work, but if part of it has been published previously, such published work should not exceed more than one quarter of the total content of the entry. This condition
8. will not apply to poems or short stories published in periodicals or newspapers. The author of the prize-winning manuscript will not be permitted to make substantial changes to the text when publishing the work without the written consent of the Gratiaen Trust. The
9. work shall be published within six (6) months of the award. An author may submit entries under a pseudonym. In this event, the entry form should include the name of the author as given in his/her National Identity Card. The Trust will disclose the actual name of the author to the judges and the general public at the main award event once the judging process has ended and only if the author is shortlisted for the award. Where a published work is submitted, it should be submitted under the same name as appears on the publication.

Submission of entries

1. Four copies of each book or manuscript entered should be sent to the Chairperson, The Gratiaen Trust, C/O the Marga Institute, 941/1, Jayanthi Mawatha, Kotte Road, Ethul Kotte.
2. Entries should be submitted with a completed Entry Form available on the Gratiaen Trust website (www.gratiaen.com), or received by email following a letter of request addressed to the Secretary to the Trust at gratiaentrust@gmail.com Phone Inquiries: 077 311 5839
3. All manuscripts should be ready for publication, neatly typed on A4 paper, double spaced and printed on one side only, with a one-inch margin all around, pages numbered, with a table of contents and neatly bound (spiral or other). All published books should be submitted in whole including the publisher/printer information and details of authorship. Books and manuscripts accepted for consideration will not be returned.
4. Collections of short stories should contain a minimum of ten (10) substantial short stories and collections of poems should contain a minimum of twenty-five (25) substantial poems.
5. Previous winners of the Prize will not be eligible to compete for the next two years.
6. Previous judges of the Gratiaen Prize who are creative writers will not be eligible to compete for the Prize for two successive years from the year of their jury duty.

Conditions pertaining to an Unpublished Manuscript

1. If the Prize is awarded to an unpublished manuscript, publication must be undertaken by the author in consultation with the Trust, and all or part of the prize money will be used for this purpose. When submitting the entry, the author should give his/her consent to such publication in the Entry Form.

2- If the Prize is awarded to an unpublished manuscript, one half (1/2) of the prize money will be released when the publication contract is signed. If self-published, one half (1/2) of the prize money will be released when a print contract is signed with a third party. The balance half (1/2) will be released once published. Any variation to this rule shall be in agreement with the Trust.

LINK https://www.gratiaen.com/archives/31st-gratiaen-prize-call-for-entries-rules-and-entry-form?fbclid=IwAR2-gUyXmKPTuiRnU8_MhzIS7BqZB8ZpHrojf4oyDFGqun4gsGGaOK7Uqw8