Last Wednesday July 21st, the winners of the Young Cameroonian Writer Award / Prix de la Jeune Plume Camerounaise received their prizes during a ceremony presided over by Professor Maurice KAMTO. The event took place in Yaoundé, at Librairie des Peuples Noirs. The Young Cameroonian Writer Award is a writing competition initiated by the GENOO Foundation, created more thant 10 years ago by Maurice KAMTO.
The Young Cameroonian Writer Award is a short story competition open to every Cameroonian aged below 26. Short stories are submitted either in English or in French. During each edition, 10 authors are selected by the jury for the quality of their stories. Those authors receive financial compensations and gifts from the GENOO Foundation, but also benefit from a personalized mentoring program to improve their stories. At the end, the stories are published buy a Cameroonian publisher.
The very first edition of this project took place in 2016, and the winning stories were published in an anthology entitled: White Blood / Mémoire morte published by Mandara Publishing. This Wednesday July 21st, the award winning ceremony of the second edition was also the occasion to present that first collection of stories and to listen to the young writers, authors of that anthology.
This year, Maxime Tala is the first winner of the completion:
“I believe that this is a good initiative which arouses writing passions, and which is a springboard for young authors”.
He received his prize from the hands of Professor Maurice KAMTO, President of Foundation GENOO. The next edition of the competition will be launched this September.
Djimeli Raoul, cultural animator at GENOO Foundation invites young writers to participate: “it is an incredible opportunity that the GENOO Foundation offers to young people. This is the kind of outstretched hand that young people expect. It is an opportunity to start a writing career with serenity and I invite young Cameroonian authors not to miss it.”