Babishai Festival, Haiku Contest, The Future

27 March, 2020

Dear Friends of Babishai, Lovers of Poetry, and Leaders in the Arts,

We are looking forward to a tomorrow that is better than today.

During this time when the world seems to be spinning under our feet, let’s keep our heads high, and remember the effectiveness of our togetherness, our creativity and our steed. In these unprecedented days with Covid-19 stretching its ugly neck in unwanted spaces, the Babishai team has agreed to postpone our festival, which was scheduled for June, 25-28  2020,in Kibaale, by the crater lake.

We appreciate all who have reached out to us with care and advice, poets, academics, well-wishers and friends. That means a lot, that even with your own challenges, you still think of others. The #Babishai2020 Haiku award deadline passed and the judges shall proceed with their work. The announcement of the shortlist and winners though, shall be postponed to June 2020, until we finalize on a new date for the festival.

Please take care of yourselves and your loved ones. Keep to the prevention measures, until we kick Corona out of our lives.

Keep writing and reciting too, because people around you need the warmth that stems from a creative mind, more than ever.

Regards,

The Babishai Team

Setting off

 

SUBMIT FOR THE #BABISHAI2020 HAIKU AWARD

Welcome to the #BabishaiDecade, of 2020-2030. It’s been extraordinary and memorable, spending the past ten years with you. Our 2020 has begun. The #Babishai2020 Haiku prize is ready for your submission!
This is the third Haiku prize, titled #Babishai2020. We’re looking for haikus that will make us smitten, haikus that are original, inventive and fresh. Haikus are born from the creative capacity to immerse in the environment and part with solid reminders of it, like precipitation. Submit your freshest, wildest and most risky.
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR THE #BABISHAI2020 AFRICAN HAIKU AWARD.
This is the third Haiku prize, titled #Babishai2020. We’re looking for haikus that will make us smitten, haikus that are original, inventive and fresh. Haikus are born from the creative capacity to immerse in the environment and part with solid reminders of it, like precipitation. Submit your freshest, wildest and most risky.

Rules:
• Submit a maximum of five haikus and minimum of three haikus to bnpa2020@babishainiwe.com and copy babishainiwe@babishainiwe.com
• Each haiku must be original (never previously published either online or in print)
• Submissions will be received from 1 January 2020 from 12:01am (Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania time), to 15 March 2020 11:59pm /2359 h, OR GMT + 3 (i.e Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania time)
• Submissions shall be in English, using Calibri font Size 11, single-spaced, as one Microsoft Word attachment
• Do Not submit your name on the submission itself, rather send your name, country of origin, country of residence and email address, in the body of the email
• The #Babishai2020 haiku award is open to Africans aged 18 and above, whose country of residence, is in Africa
• The winner shall be announced during our sixth poetry festival, which shall take place in Bunyoro, Western Uganda and Kampala, from 25-28 June, 2020
• The winning prize is $300. The second and third shall receive $200 each
• We are stoked that Kariuki wa Nyamu, our previous winner of the #Babishai2017 Haiku prize, will preside over as one of our judges
• Submissions shall be disqualified based on plagiarism and entries outside the time-frame
• The judges’ decision is final

We look forward to your submissions.