VI Consortium Sponsors ‘The Gilbert Literary Prize’ For Caribbean Writer Volume 30

The Caribbean Writer is now accepting submissions for its 30th Anniversary edition, and included in this year’s list of awards is a new annual prize being sponsored by VI Consortium in the amount of $500 for the ‘The Gilbert Literary Prize.’

The prize will be awarded to a Caribbean author whose work best explores the theme of building community.

The Caribbean Writer is an international, refereed, literary journal published annually by the University of the Virgin Islands. Submissions for the publication should be “unique to the Caribbean and should be central to the work, or the work should reflect a Caribbean heritage, experience, or perspective,” according to the University of the Virgin Islands, who publishes the volume.

In addition to the standard poetry, fiction, essays, book reviews and one-act plays in the 30th Anniversary edition, Volume 30 will highlight the theme: Journeys and Pathways. Writers are invited to explore this theme in the context of their unique, personal, cultural, national or collective Caribbean memory.

“The Caribbean experience continues to evolve and shift in the same way that families, relationships, communities, landscapes, pass times and ideas about self, have evolved and shifted. Therefore, in the meanderings of the Caribbean imagination, the focus of creative expressions will, necessarily, vary and this variation makes for richly textured diverse experiences worth sharing,” said Alscess Lewis-Brown, editor of The Caribbean Writer. “So, writers are encouraged to consider the way the people of the Caribbean and its diaspora respond to those ideas and experiences that matter most in their singular or collective Caribbean journey.”

Individuals are encouraged to submit poems (5 maximum), short stories, and personal essays on general topics and also on the theme — Journeys and Pathways. Only previously unpublished works will be considered. Writers who are self-published are requested to provide details. Brief biographical and contact information should be included. The title of the manuscript should appear on a separate page.

All submissions are eligible for these prizes: The Virgin Islands Daily News Prize for a fiction or nonfiction essay to an author residing in the U.S. or British Virgin Islands ($500); The Canute A. Brodhurst Prize for best short fiction ($400); The Gilbert Literary Prize ($500); The David Hough Literary Prize to a Caribbean author ($500); The Marvin E. Williams Literary Prize to an emerging Caribbean author ($500); The First Lady Cecile de Jongh Literary Prize to a Caribbean author whose work best expresses the spirit of the Caribbean ($500); and The Charlotte & Isidor Paiewonsky Prize for first-time publication in The Caribbean Writer ($250).

Email submissions to [email protected] as attached Word or RTF files OR submit via the “Submissions” page at www.thecaribbeanwriter.org. Submissions may also be mailed to: The Caribbean Writer, University of the Virgin Islands, RR 1, Box 10,000, Kingshill St. Croix, VI 00850-9781. Include SASE for response.

The Caribbean Writer is also soliciting Caribbean artwork for the cover of Volume 30 depicting the theme, Journeys and Pathways. Artists should submit electronic files in vertical format as TIF or JPEG files with a resolution of 300 dpi or greater.

Black and white art (line drawings, sketches, block prints, etc.) is also needed for use inside the 300-page publication. Vertical format is also preferred for these submissions, in TIF or JPEG format with resolution of 300 dpi or greater.

Please include all necessary contact information and a brief biographical note with art submissions and email to [email protected].

The submission deadline for both writings and artwork is December 31, 2015.