TCI Writers’ Society Launches ‘The Best Story’ Writing Competition

Budding writers in the Turks and Caicos Islands will get the opportunity to hone their literary skills, while standing the chance to win prizes, in the wake of the TCI Writers’ Society launching its first annual writing competition entitled “The Best Story”.

The underlying requirement, according to the Writers’ Society, is that the story must be ‘exciting, captivating and unique’, and that all work must be original.

The competition started September 1 and will run until November 12. The genre must fall into one of the following categories: Fiction; Non-fiction; Comedy; Science Fiction; Fantasy; Mystery; Novel; Romance; Adventure; Action; Crime; Thriller; Horror; Political; Gospel; Folklore; and Fairytale.

The story also must address no less than four of the cultural values of the Turks and Caicos Islands, such as family, dress, food, community, island life, religion and recreation.

Primary school-age participants are allowed to enter in the fairytale and fable category, where they must submit a minimum of 300 words and a maximum of 500.

Middle/Junior school-age children may enter in the folklore, fable, fairytale, adventure, or mystery categories, where the word requirement is minimum 1000 and maximum 1200.

High School Participants can select any category. Their entry must contain a minimum of 1000 words and a maximum of 1500.

All other entrants are also allowed to pick their genre of choice. Their entry must contain 2000 words at the minimum and 3500 at the maximum.

There will be first, second and third place prizes in each category, the Writers’ Society said, pointing out that that body will remain the primary sponsor of the competition and will reserve the right to publish the winning entries on its official website.

The Turks and Caicos Islands Writers’ Society has indicated that the competition is open to Turks and Caicos Islanders and residents. It added that all work must be submitted on or before the deadline. Interested persons may visit the organization’s website at: www.tciwriterssociety.org to complete the application form.