Social media influencer and author Pemphero Mphande has announced the second edition of his story writing competition.

In an interview yesterday, he said this year the prize money has been increased to motivate more people to enter the competition and work hard to produce quality work.

“Last time we had over 1 000 people who entered the competition. This showed that there is a lot of talent out there with no platform to show off their talent,” said Mphande.

He said this year the competition’s focus is on telling African and Malawian stories.

“As we promote the reading culture, we must promote the preservation of our cultural heritage,” said Mphande.

Mphande: We must promote the preservation of our cultural heritage

However, the author bemoaned the quality of last year’s stories which he said was below standard, but hoped that this year there will be an improvement.

Mphande said panel of 10 judges will select winning stories using a standard scorecard.

According to Mphande, all submissions to the competition must be done from now up to August 29.

“Stories must touch on African culture, have not less than 2 000 words and not more than 3 000 words. Writers must be Malawians between 16 and 35 and the submissions must be in English,” he said.

The first prize is K 1 million, second prize is K3000 000 and the third prize is K200 000.

Reacting to the announcement, aspiring writers expressed excitement at the opportunity.

Linda Chigalu wrote on Facebook: “I hope and believe you have fair judges. We will surely do our best by sending in quality stories.”

Another writer identified as Phillips wrote: “Let the writing begin. This top prize is goals.”

The first edition of the Pemphero Mphande writing contest took place last year with the top writer walking away with K500 000.

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