Bandra Slam - a poetry performance contest

Caferati is organsing some of the literature events at the Celebrate Bandra fesstival this year. There are workshops and contests, amongst them, our own spin on a slam.

Contest description:

Hosted by Mocha Mojo. Organised by Caferati. Prizes courtesy Mocha Mojo.

* Theme for performers:

2 poems on Bandra, 2 on the environment, the theme of this year's festival. Performers can interpret these themes in any way they choose. The poems must be written by the performers. Each poem must take not more than two minutes to perform. Poems can be in English, Hindi or Marathi. Or Bambaiya.

* To sign up:

You must send in one poem, on either theme, to *editors at caferati dot com* with the subject line "Celebrate Bandra Poetry Slam."
Deadline: 18th 20th November, midnight.

If there are more than 15 contestants, Caferati's editors will use the submitted poem as a criteria for selecting the top 15.

The top 15 poets will be invited to the slam by email. They must respond to the invitation latest by 20th November, midnight.

* On the contest day.

- Poets must come prepared with four original poems, two on each of the themes.
- You must register with the organisers by 19.30
- There will be four rounds, by theme of poem. In each round, poets will be called up in random order, and will perform one poem each. They will have a time limit: not more than two minutes each. A buzzer or bell will sound at the end of two minutes. There will be NO time extensions allowed.
- As each performer ends, they will be rated by a jury. This jury will be three invited city poets (the experts), and three randomly selected members of the audience (whose role it will be to vote on behalf of the audience) who will change with each round.
- Poets will be judged on both the quality of the poetry and the performance.
- At the end of the round, we will take a break to tally scores. Performers and audience can get themselves refreshments.
- Scoring will be cumulative. (Those who survive each round will carry their points with them. Elimination in each round will be based on total scores up to that point.)
- The lowest scoring poets --- six in the first round, three each in subsequent rounds --- will be eliminated, and the next round will start.
- The top three at the end of four rounds will win prizes.

* Prizes (Vouchers from Mocha Mojo)

1st Prize Rs 3000
2nd Prize Rs 2000
3rd Prize Rs 1000

* Conditions

- The poems must be your own work. By entering the Slam, you are guaranteeing that this is true.
- Participants selected for the Slam can, on stage, read from a sheet of paper or electronic device or recite from memor.
- No costumes (and no nudity), no musical instruments, no visual aids
- Your poems and your performance remain your intellectual property. However, you give Celebrate Bandra, Fountainhead and Caferati permission to record your performance on audio or video or photographs and share them on their websites with correctly attributed copyright information.

Celebrate Bandra Souvenir - shortlisted submisisons

The submissions that made the short-list for the Celebrate Bandra Souvenir are:

Frenchita – A window into Bandra's Past (Short Story)
Jane Bhandari – A Candle for a Stranger (Short Story)
Jane Bhandari – Bandra on a Sunday (Poem)
K K Puri – Romancing My Girl In Old Bandra (Short Story)
Kankana Basu – NRI (Poem)
Krishnakumar Sankaran –To the Pearl Mother (Poem)
Mira Desai – 115 Carter Road (Short Story)
Rupa Gulab – A Simple Desultory Memoir (Essay)
Natasha Ramarathnam – The 8:57 local (Short Story)
Sulagana Biswas – Bandra Queen (Poem)
Sumana Roy – Untitled (Essay)
Udayan Chakrabarti – Untitled (Essay)
Vasundhara Prakash – Carter Road (Photo)
Vidyavati Chandan – Moods Of Mount Mary (Photo)

Poetry with Prakriti Poetry Contest

This just in from the Prakriti Foundation, about their contest, part of their annual Poetry with Prakriti festival. We're only helping spread the word. For more info, please email Prakriti Foundation.

As part of the festival, Prakriti Foundation invites you to participate in the Poetry Contest. Rules of the contest are:

Age Group: Contest is open to resident citizens of India aged 16 years and above

Jury: Distinguished panel of three judges

Prizes: Three cash prizes of Rs.10000/-, Rs.7500/- and Rs.5000/- each

Closing date: 15th December 2008. Results will be declared on 30th December

No. of entries: One poem for each contestant

Entries will be accepted in both typed hard copy form, or soft copy sent by e-mail. All entries have to be accompanied by a declaration of originality and automatic disqualification will occur should a fraud be detected by the committee.

E-mail your entries to prakritifoundation@gmail.com

or send your entries to
Prakriti Foundation
Block C, 9th Floor
599 Anna Salai
Cathedral Garden Road
Chennai 600 006
Phone: 044 32990005

The Open Space – Harper Collins Poetry Contest 2008

This just in from Open Space. We wrote to the organisers expressing our reservations about the depth of info that their entry form requires — gender? occupation? — and the minimum age requirements. Hopefully, they will reconsider both. If they do, we'll update this post. If you have queries, or would like to add your voice to ours, please write to the email address provided.

Update (3rd November 2008): Open Space's Rakesh Ganguli tells us that there are a few changes in the entry form, which we have updated below. "Gender" and "Occupation" are now optional fields, but the lower age limit remains 18 years.

With poetry blogs and literary forums of an assorted variety proliferating online, poetry has finally found a public space. The aim of this Online Poetry Contest is to encourage the reading and writing of poetry as a literary activity and to promote the art of poetry, especially among the young.

Prizes:
1st prize – Rs 20,000
2nd prize – Rs 10,000
3rd prize – Rs 5,000

Judges:
Keki Daruwala is a poet and a leading figure in Indian poetry in English. A recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award and Commonwealth Poetry Award, Keki N. Daruwalla has so far published about 12 books, consisting of mostly poems and a couple of fictional works. Some of his important works are Under Orion, The keeper of the dead, Landscapes, A summer of tigers and The minister for permanent unrest & other stories. He also edited Two decades of Indian poetry.
V.K.Karthika is the Chief Editor, HarperCollins Publishers India Ltd.
Priya Sarukkai Chabria is a poet and novelist, and Editor of the website Talking Poetry. Her second collection of poems Not Springtime Yet (HarperCollins) was recently released. She is at www.priyawriting.com
C.P.Surendran is a poet, journalist and columnist. He has written four volumes of poetry: Gemini II, Posthumous Poems, Canaries on the Moon and Portraits of the Space We Occupy. His debut novel is titled An Iron Harvest.

The decision of the judges will be final.

Copyright for the shortlisted and winning poems will be shared by the poets, Open Space and Harper Collins. The top ten poems will be published online on Talking Poetry and the HCP site. All winners will be notified by email. The contest ends November 30th 2008 and all winners will be announced in January 2009.

How to enter:

1. Write a poem on the theme of ‘borders’ (interpret the subject broadly, as borders between people, countries and cultures). The poem may be up to 50 lines long, written in any style.
2. The competition is open to anyone above the age of 18 residing in India and writing in English.
3. The poem must be original and unpublished in any print or online forum.
4. A contribution of Rs.100 (one hundred only) is to be paid to participate in the contest. This contribution is payable by bank demand draft only.
5. Only one entry per individual will be accepted.
6. Each poem must be printed on one side of an A4 sheet.
7. Each page must be numbered and must include the title of the poem.
8. Please send two copies of your poem.
9. The competition will be judged ‘blind’. Please make sure your name appears only on the entry form printed below.

Send your poem, entry form and contribution to:
Open Space Poetry Contest
Centre for Communication and Development Studies
301, Kanchanjunga bldg.
Kanchan Lane,
Near Krishna Dining Hall,
Off Law College Road
Pune - 411004

Bank Demand Drafts to be drawn in favour of: Centre for Communication and Development Studies

PLEASE NOTE:

* No copies of poems will be returned and no correspondence with judges can be entered into.
* Entries without the entry form and contribution will not be eligible for the contest.
* Email any queries about the contest to: rakesh@openspaceindia.org However, NO entries will be entertained online. They must be sent in hard copy.
* Prizes are nontransferable.
* Poems submitted must not have been published previously in books or magazines and must be original to the person submitting them.
* The closing date to enter the contest is November 30, 2008.
* Winners will be announced in January 2009.

***

ENTRY FORM

FOR THE OPEN SPACE – HARPER COLLINS POETRY CONTEST 2008
(On the theme of ‘Borders’)

Name:
Age Group: 18-25 (  ) 25-35 (  ) 35 & above (  )
Gender (optional):
Occupation (optional):
Postal Address:
Pin:
E-mail:
Mobile no.:
Landline no.:
Bank D.D No.:
Drawn from Bank/City:
Dated:

Title of your poem:

The Poem:

***

Quick Tales

We're delighted to be able to tell you about this contest we have just got up and running. We're presenting it in partnership with LiveJournal, one of the oldest, most respected names in the community blogging world.

It's a pretty simple challenge we have here, one that will particularly appeal to all the fiction writers among you, but not too intimidating for those of you who like other forms of writing to give it a bash.

Can you tell a quicker, snappier story than anyone else? Would you care to pit your story-telling abilities against those of your peers?

Quick Tales, the LiveJournal - Caferati Flash Fiction contest, asks you to tell us a story in 500 words or less. On offer: delicious cash prizes (top prize: Rs 19,999), global visibility and the chance to be part of a book.

You probably know what Flash Fiction is all about - we have run Flash Fic contests for the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival for the last three years, and FF tags and memes have been floating around the blogosphere for ages - but, just in case you do need a few starting tips, see this page.

The contest is open to residents of India who are members of LiveJournal's India Writing community. (If you're not an LJ member, joining is free. Click the "Create a LiveJournal Account" link at the top of any LJ page.) The theme is "Journal," and your deadline is 7th September.

Prizes? The top 5 winning entries take home cash prizes of Rs 19,999, Rs 16,000, Rs 12,000, Rs 8,000 and Rs 4,000, respectively. And the rest of the top ten get paid accounts on LJ for one year. Each of the top 100 entries will also be highlighted on LJ's India Writing community for the world to see. (Short-listed stories may also be included in a book that LiveJournal plans to publish at a later date.)

Go straight through to our Quick Tales microsite for all the details, and don't forget to join India Writing, which is the place where all the updates will be happening. Live Journal has more plans for writers in all languages in India, and that community will be HQ.

We'd also be very, very grateful if you chose to tell your friends about it, and, if you have a blog or personal site, or are a member of other writing communities, to link to the site as well.

Good luck, and we hope to see your entry soon!

Contests for writers at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2007

Caferati runs contests for writers directly, and in collaboration with other organisations. This page gives you updates on the latest. (You could also subscribe to our Contests newsletter to get alerts in your inbox.)

Writing contests at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2007

We are managing four contests for the Literature and Writing section of the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2007.

Go straight through to the individual contest pages for details.

• SMS Poetry — 160-character poetry — About | Submit


• Flash Fiction — very short stories — About | Submit


• Graphic Flash — very short stories, told with visuals — About | Submit


• Poetry Slam — performance poetry, live and head-to-head — About | Submit

All these contests are open to anyone, anywhere. However, the Poetry Slam is a live event at the Festival, so it's a bit pointless to submit if you live elsewhere, unless you are prepared to travel to Kala Ghoda for the event at your own expense, if you are selected.

The deadline for all of them is midnight, IST, 4th February, 2007.

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