COMPETITION DESCRIPTION:

“For many of our African communities, the transmission of oral traditions from one generation to the next is at the heart of their cultural practices. Multi-culturism and rapid socio-economic changes mean that most young people have less access and exposure to their own culture, in contrast to information that is readily available and easily accessible everywhere. In time, the rich cultures and traditions of Africans will be threatened as elders, who are the main vehicles for the transmission of unique cultural knowledge, die – hence, the need to secure this heritage for the future generations.

The African Tales is a diaspora initiative to collect, document and digitally preserve Traditional Oral African History. Specifically, the 2023/24 Call for Folk Stories seeks to engage primary school children of African descent wherever they live, to participate in the competition for the best traditional African folk story. 

African folktales embody our common African history and help to strengthen our cultural values and traditions. Folktales include fairy tales, tall tales, legends, proverbs, fables and everything else: Folk tales are often stories about people or animals that behave like people and involve mythical and magical transformations. Most of these stories convey a message or moral to the listener, or explain something in a creative way. Folktales are often passed down and retold orally from generation to generation. Fairy tales are completely fictional and often begin with such formulas as “Once upon a time …” and “In a certain place there lived__.

COMPETITION TIMELINE:

31 December - 30 June, 2024.

Opening Date: 31 December, 2023. Entries must be submitted via the online entry form.

Entries must be submitted via the online entry form by 30 June, 2024 (23:59 in each time zone). Entries submitted after this date will not be considered.

COMPETITION RULES:

Please read these competition rules before starting the online entry process. Submission of an entry constitutes acceptance of these entry rules.

If you have any questions about entering or eligibility, please contact us at:

africantalesteam@gmail.com before submitting an entry.

The competition is open to all primary school pupils of African descent.

● Pupils can register for the competition online or offline as individuals or groups within the specified time.

● Folk Stories can be submitted in the official national language or in the original language in which they are told, as long as they can be translated by judges.

● All stories must be ancient and told by a grandparent or grandparent figure.

● Entries maybe written or recorded.

● Each pupil or group of pupils may submit only one folk story to the competition.

● We aim to make decisions and contact entrants by 30 September, 2024.

● Up to 10 entrants per country will be selected to participate in the online academy and their entries will be published in the digital archive.

● Participants must indicate which country they represent in case of dual citizenship.

● A prize will be awarded to the top three entrants.

● The international judging panel will consist of one judge from each region. Please note that although entries will be judged nationally, all judges will read and consider entries from all countries.

● There will be three winners from each country and region. Three international winners will be selected as the overall winners. 

If you have any questions or technical problems, please email us at: africantalesteam@gmail.com