2007 NCCA Writers' Prize

2007 NCCA Writers' Prize guidelines

The NCCA Writers’ Prize is a biennial grant awarded to six (6) writers, one for each of the following categories: novel, short stories (including children’s stories), poetry, drama, essay (English) and literary biography (English/Filipino). The grant, in the amount of TWO HUNDRED FIFTY THOUSAND PESOS gross, will assist the grantee during the writing stage of the project. The grant is good for one year, after which a manuscript of the writing project will be submitted to the NCCA for possible publication or staging.

The NCCA, in line with its mission to “encourage the continuing development of a pluralistic culture by the people themselves,” will be creating the opportunity to have a direct hand in the development of Filipino literature. With the grant, the NCCA Writers’ Prize winners will be freed from the demands of their work and shall be able to focus on the writing of the project for one year.

ELIGIBILITY

The grant is open to Filipino writers, of legal age, except the officers and members of the NCCA Secretariat and the officers of the NCCA Committee on Literary Arts and Committee on Dramatic Arts.

MECHANICS

For the 2007 NCCA Writers’ Prize competition, the following shall be the requirements in the submission of entries:

1. Applicants must submit an accomplished application form, available at the NCCA Project Management Division, curriculum vitae, and a 3 – 5 page concept paper discussing the rationale and significance of the project. Initial output of the project which shall be submitted in four (4) printed copies along with the concept paper. For 2007, the categories and the expected initial output are:
Category Initial Output
   1. Novel – Cebuano language First 50 pages
   2. Poetry – Bicol language 10 poems; 1 poem per page
   3. Short Stories – English/Filipino 3 short stories
   4. Drama – any of the Panay languages 1 act for a full length drama; 2 1-act plays
   5. Essay (English) 3 chapters or no less than 50 pages
   6. Literary Biography (English/Filipino) 3 chapters or no less than 50 pages

All the sample works shall be in typewritten form. Manuscript and concept paper shall not bear the name of the applicant in any of the pages.

2. Applicants are allowed to apply in only one (1) category.

3. Applications will be evaluated by an Ad Hoc Screening Committee selected by the Committee on Literary Arts and the Committee on Dramatic Arts. There will be three members of the screening committee per category.

4. The grant will be released in four tranches, with the first tranche at the beginning of the writing period and the succeeding tranches upon submission of the following:
2nd tranche - 50% of the writing project
3rd tranche - 75% of the writing project
4th tranche - 100% of the writing project

5. The writing grant is good only for one year. The NCCA will allow maximum extension of six (6) months only with written justification by the grantee.

6. Completed manuscript must be submitted in two forms: one (1) printed copy and one (1) electronic copy in MSWord format in a diskette. The project output shall be as follows:
Category Initial Output 1. Novel – Cebuano language
Minimum of 200 typewritten 2. Poetry – Bicol language
30 poems 3. Short Stories – English/Filipino
12 short stories 4. Drama – any of the Panay languages 2 or more acts for a full-length drama; 5 1-act plays 5. Essay (English) 12 chapters or no less than 200 pages 6. Literary Biography (English/Filipino) 12 chapters or no less than 200 pages

7. The grant is non-transferable. All privileges shall be enjoyed by the grantee himself/herself based on the successful evaluation of the work in progress. A reader from the screening committee of each category shall be assigned to evaluate the succeeding materials to be submitted by the grantee. Upon submission of the positive evaluation of the reader for the second and third tranches, the corresponding amounts shall be released immediately to the grantee. However, for the fourth tranche, the same will be released only upon completion of evaluation of the completed

manuscript by the Reader. Revisions, however, may be recommended by the Reader. Only upon final approval of the completed manuscript shall the final tranche be released to the grantee.

8. Deadline of submission of application together with the curriculum vitae of applicant and other requirements shall be on December 31, 2007. All applications shall be addressed to:
2007 NCCA WRITERS’ PRIZE Secretariat
Project Management Division-Special Projects
National Commission for Culture and the Arts
NCCA Building, 633 General Luna St .
Intramuros, Manila

9. Applicants shall include a self-addressed stamped kraft envelope in case the materials shall be returned to the applicants who were not selected.

COPYRIGHT AND OWNERSHIP RIGHT
1. The Grantee hereby grants the NCCA the first option to publish the output of the Grant. The NCCA will have the right to produce or authorized to be produced, for staging, telecasting, broadcasting, or cinema or other forms of exhibition from time to time any output of the writing grant. The NCCA will also be allowed to include the output of the Grant in the NCCA Website. The first option to publish of NCCA expires one year after completion of the Grant.

2. It is understood that the literary material submitted has not been submitted to any other award body or has not received any prize and is not a completed manuscript but a work in progress. Any violation of the guidelines shall mean withdrawal of the grant and any amount paid to the grantee shall be returned to the NCCA. The award then will be transferred to the person who garnered the second highest vote during the Screening of the materials.