Think you can write an amazing short fictional story in 1500 – 2000 words?
Enter the inaugural APEN/AISEN Short Story Competition: Powered By OkadaBooks, for your chance for a 1 week paid internship at Farafina/Kachifo press and a chance to get published on OkadaBooks, and make your school proud!
Open to APEN/AISEN schools only
Entry
The top 10 winning entries in each category will be on display in the inaugural APEN/AISEN OkadaBooks short story compilation.
Authors(Students) Aged 8–18 are Eligible to Enter. The two age groupings are: 8–12 years old, and 13–18 years old.
1. Write a short children’s story that ends with the phrase, “And that’s how the Princess saved the Prince.”
Do not use this as the title of your story. Come up with a different title that is creative and original.
2. Upload and publish your Short Story here. See how to upload your short story entry by clicking here
3. When publishing, in the field provided for the ‘Book Title‘, input the titlte of your book, and (#APENAISENagegroup1) if you’re between ages 8 and 12 and (#APENAISENagegroup2), if you’re between ages 13 and 18. For Example- Title: Beauty and The Teeth (#APENAISENagegroup2).
Failure to do this means we won’t be able to find your entry and you might miss out on your internship.
4. Set your price at 0 Naira.
5. In the ‘Description‘ field, input Your name, the name of your school, and YOUR STORY’S WORD COUNT.
Failure to provide this information means we won’t be able to identify you or your school, and your entry will not get judged. So ensure you put it.
6. Also ensure that you use a cover photo for your entry. Beautiful covers attract extra marks too.
7. All the entries will be reviewed by OkadaBooks team led by editor, Chiamaka Onu-Okpara. The top 50 entries will be identified and sent to the Contest main judge, Enajite Efajuaye (Chief Editor Farafina/Kachifo).
Audience Favourite: An additional 10 entries in each category with the most downloads, ratings, and reviews will also be sent to the main Judge to form the final Top 60.
Audience Favorite Entries: At the start of the voting period, invite your friends, family, neighbours, teachers and classmates to vote for your story by:
• Downloading a copy
• Reading your Story
• Rating it
• Leaving a review
Your entry must be original!
BE SURE OF YOUR WORD COUNT! Entries exceeding the word limits will be disqualified.
The winners will be selected based on:
•Language/Grammar
•Originality/Creativity
•Structure
•Cover design
•Coherence
Entry starts on: Has started
Entry closes and Audience Favorite Voting begins: 15th October, 2018 at 11:59pm
Voting Ends: 20th October, 2018 at 11:59pm
Judging begins: 21st October, 2018
Winners will be announced: 12th November, 2018
May the best Story, win! O! And we can’t forget the prizes!
First Place Winner will receive a N20,000 one week paid internship at Farafina
Second Place Winner will receive a N10,000 one week paid internship at Farafina
Third Place Winner will receive a N5,000 one week paid internship at Farafina
If you have questions or inquiries, please send us an email here – themechanic@okadabooks.com
1.What does APEN/AISEN mean?
2. Can an undergraduate participate?
APEN – Association of Private Educators in Nigeria.
AISEN – Association of International School Educators of Nigeria.
The contest is open only to primary and secondary school students.
i dont understand,if the deadline is July 4th,why does it say entry closes 15th october.
Hello Fade. Please ignore the date on the flier. It has been postponed and the new deadline is October 15th, NOT July 4th.
The poster shows that deadline is 4th July 2018 but there is also this “Entry closes and Audience Favorite Voting begins: 15th October 2018 at 11:59pm” as part of the information on this site.
What is the difference between the “deadline” and “entry closes”?
Thank you
Toyin, please ignore the poster. It contains the initial date which has been changed. The correct date is October 15th.
Thank you, Martha.
Can a submission already made be retrieved and resubmitted now that there is more time to improve on the story?
Hi Toyin,
Was your entry published as a book on the website?
If yes, check here for a tutorial on how to edit an already published book.
If you sent in your entry as a blog submission, you will need to re-enter the contest by using the right channel, which is via publishing on the website.
You can go through the instructions again.
Hello,
How do we access a submitted entry? And how do family and friends rate and submit and their review?
Thank you
Hello,
You can access a submitted entry by searching for it on the website and copying the link
Please how do I get the link to send to family and friends for downloads and reads for my sons story?
I cant seem to figure out how to get friends and family to download or read his story on your website.
Your prompt response would be appreciated.
Hello,
Have you published your son’s story?
You can give them the book’s title to search for on the app or website.
What is the book title?
Yes I have published the book on your website. The title of the book is “The Royal Vampire”. Author is Chimechetam Victor Igwe.
Firstly I shared the link on my Facebook page but I noticed the link is broken and I have been getting this same feedback from family and friends which is quite discouraging.
When you click on the link, the message you get is as stated below-
404 ERROR Book Not Found.
Please help us fix this as soon as possible.
Secondly is the number of Reads same with number of downloads? How can the book be downloaded on your website please?
Kindly advise as a matter of urgency. Your prompt response is super important please.
I sincerely apologize for the inconveniences caused.
The book must have been mistakenly deleted, probably from your end. It has been restored now and the link you have shared on Facebook and to your friends and family should work now too.
https://okadabooks.com/book/about/the_royal_vampire_apenaisenagegroup1/19289
Thank you very much for your prompt response.
The link is now up and running. Thank you for fixing it.
However I am still getting negative feedback on the download. People are still finding it so difficult accessing the download button to download.
They see the READ button but cant seem to access the download button.
Could you please advise on how they can navigate and access the DOWNLOAD button? They can read but are not able to download.
Your prompt response would be appreciated please.
Thank you so much.
Mrs. Igwe
Hi Okada Team,
Thank you for clarifying and yes I am aware voting has not started. I however needed to know so I know how to advise those who are interested in downloading the book now.
I just noticed the number of reads for my sons book “The Royal Vampire” has reduced by a large number. From over 318 reads to 29 reads. It was over 300 reads as at this morning and just this evening it reduced to just 29 reads. This is quite discouraging.
Could you please see that this anomaly is corrected and the total number of reads for my sons book be restored to status quo? and also see to it that it does not happen again please
A similar anomaly occurred a few days ago on my sons account and it was corrected after my complaints. Now this.
We trust your team is doing all it can to mitigate against this type of errors now and at the time the contest begins.
So what happens to the reads and downloads already recorded on either of the sites? Would they be merged into one since same number of reads and downloads are linked to my son?
Secondly even on the main website- okadabooks.com, the total number of reads displaying is not correct. It’s still reading about 29 reads the last time I checked. Why is that? Because if what you said it is, is the reason for the disparity then the number of reads on the main site should be correct.
Thirdly there is no way anyone who is interested in reading or downloading my sons book would be able to differentiate between the 2 sites as I am not there with them . I would please suggest you disable your beta site to avoid any confusion or issues not just for my sons book but also for other authors.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Since voting hasn’t started, the current number of downloads be counted.
When it’s time to vote (October 15th), ask your family and friends to visit http://www.okadabooks.com and search for the book title, or your could give them the direct link to the book.
To download, they have to click on “START READING“.
Goodday,
I would like to know more about the voting process
1. Are the votes counted as number of reads or downloads?
2. Do you need to download the Okadabooks app?
3. If you vote before October 15, would all the downloads/reads already gained be reset to 0 (zero)?
Please let me now any other necessary information
Thanks
Hi Darimi,
Full details will be communicated before the voting begins.
What if am not a member of APEN AISEN
Hi, only students of APEN/AISEN schools can participate.
Am out of secondary school but am 17, can I apply?
Hello,
Unfortunately, no. Only enrolled students can apply.
16, but a secondary school graduate. Can he participate?
Unfortunately, no.
How do you know if a school is under APEN/AISEN?
Hello, please I published a book on your site for the competition titled “The Brave Princess Knight”
But families and friends can’t acess it.
The book is not downloading and they can’t open it as well.
Can you advise on how it can be fixed please.
It’s urgent.
Thanks
Do people have to sign up to vote for a book or is there another way
Yes, they need to sign up
Please I’d like to publish a story for the APENAISEN short story competition. Could it still be possible by now?
Hello,
Unfortunately, submissions have long ended.
I just discovered my 5000 words work, is 4849 in your site but it’s completely 5000 words on my laptop.
I have proofread the whole work and it’s same.
Please help me and resolve it.
Hello.
Please ignore the word count on the website.
I thought the winners were to be announced on the 5th of November?
Yes, but we had to move it to the 12th.
where would we find the winners list…because today is 12th but i’m not seeing any list.
Good morning,
It will be announced today. The day is not over yet
Who are the winners for the contest? I need to know and so does my classmate.
Hello Tobi,
We will put it up soon
IT is almost 8:00.
Where is it. It’s November 13th.
Where are the winners we have been looking for it since thank you and please let us know?
Hello, my classmate and I need to know who won. I can’t stand the suspense.
I am her classmate