Every Literary Prize Has A Prospect Of Growing Bigger, Most Especially Those That Are Open To Upcoming Writers And New Writing – Izunna Okafor

 

EVERY LITERARY PRIZE HAS A PROSPECT OF GROWING BIGGER, MOST ESPECIALLY THOSE THAT ARE OPEN TO UPCOMING WRITERS AND NEW WRITING – IZUNNA OKAFOR

 

Izunna Okafor is a Novelist, Poet, Essayist, Journalist, Publicist, Columnist, Editor, Igbo Language Activist, and Public Affairs Analyst. He is the author of: Ikem's Adventure, Ajo Enyi, The Faithful Children, The Curse of A Widow, Nzúzù M Egbuo M, Educated Illiterate, African Blood. He was one of the judges of the African Human Rights Essay Competition, 2021 and editor of “The Malady and the Remedy”, an International Essay Anthology on Human Rights Abuse in Africa. He has published in several other literary anthologies. In this interview with Wole Adedoyin, he talks about his writing and experience as one of the Judges of the recently concluded African Human Rights Essay Competition.

WA: FROM YOUR AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS ESSAY COMPETITION EXPERIENCE, WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE A JUDGE? 

 

IO: Being a judge is like being the Rhadamanthus of Crete, or a knowledgeable examiner, who scrutinizes the works of the students and impartially awards them marks based on merit and certain criteria. Four major things stand out here — knowledgeable, impartial, merit and criteria. To explain this a little more, a judge must be adequately knowledgeable on what he is judging (possess adequate knowledge of the field), be impartial, and consequently awards marks meritoriously, while also doing so based on certain criteria. So, what it is like to be a judge is to possess these qualities and act accordingly.

 

WA: EVERY YEAR THERE SEEMS TO BE MORE LITERARY PRIZES APPEARING: WHY DO YOU THINK THIS IS? DO WE NEED SO MANY? 

 

IO: Yes, I agree with you that more literary prizes spring up yearly. It shows that literary art is growing and that more people, groups/organisations, etc, are becoming interested in the field. It would be interesting to note that none of these new prizes flips over without applicants or entries. It simply shows that writers and literary enthusiasts are ever interested in them, even the yet-to-be-introduced prizes. As people would always want to taste and test new things, literary enthusiasts would also want to taste and test new things, literary prizes, books, and publication opportunities inclusive.

 

As to whether we need many of such literary prizes, I would say yes, owing to their benefits and importance in advancing and promoting the literary art and creating more opportunities for writer to be recognized, rewarded and respected for their pencraft. However, care should be taken not to bastardize, demean or even abuse it. Such would be out of it.

 

WA: AS SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN A JUDGE, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO ANYONE SUBMITTING AN ENTRY TO A PRESTIGIOUS ESSAY COMPETITION? ANY FAUX-PAS WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT?

 

IO: Most writers are always in a hurry to submit their works during competitions; and as such, they make some avoidable but costly mistakes. As an award-winning writer who has also been privileged to judge, co-judge or head the jury of many essays competitions both within and outside the country; I would say that the commonest among some of these avoidable but costly mistakes include punctuation mistakes, spelling mistakes and contravening or going against the competition rules and submission guidelines.

 

To learn and master punctuation and punctuating, essayists (and in fact every writer) should study punctuation guide at: https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/top-ten.html , https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/ or https://www.julian.com/blog/punctuation . These sites and many more would be of great help, even in clearing certain doubts the writer may have about punctuation.

 

As I said earlier, most writers and competition entrants make these mistakes, probably as a result of deadline and time factor, as a result of lack of concentration/uncarefulness, as a result of nonproofreading of their works or having a trusted third party look into the work(s), and more regrettably, as a result of ignorance of the mistakes (not knowing that those things are mistakes).

 

Before any good judge starts to judge any (essay) competition, he must first consult the 'Call for Submissions' with which the essays were called for, to see the competition rules and the submission guidelines stipulated there. Thereafter, he would draw out his marking scheme/criteria, in line with the competition rules and submission guidelines. The sum up of the marking scheme will equal 100%. A typical example is:

 

1. Content (including accuracy of data and the general message of the work): 35%

 

2. Organization (including unity of thoughts, flow of discussion, adherence to competition rules/word count, etc): 35%

 

3. Style (originality, creativity): 20%

 

4. Mechanical Accuracy (grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc): 10%

 

Total: 100%

 

 

It is against these judging criteria that every essay is judged and scored. Although I read every essay material I'm to judge up to two times or more before I start scoring the entrant, some judges may not. They score and award marks as they read the content for the first time.

 

Now, going back to what I was saying above, you may see an entrant who has written a wonderful essay (which, going  by the marking scheme above, earns her a maximum of 35); but because she crossed the stipulated word count by few words (which is against the competition rules), or because of few spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors, and other such minor errors; at the end, after summing the person's total mark, he may end up scoring something far below the average mark required to be shortlisted. And the person will be very surprise when he didn't make it to the shortlist or when he sees his mark. Some of them may end up attributing it to something too far from reality, without actually knowing how it came about. 

 

It important to reveal here that some strict judges deduct marks for entrants for each spelling mistake, grammatical or punctuation error he committed in his work, most especially in a highly competitive essay/writing contest. Although I don't support that, and I don't support/allow people to use it each time I head or I'm part of a jury.

 

In some competitions also, some people who wrote beautiful essays may even end up being disqualified, because they passed the word count, wrote un-thematically (outside the given theme/topic) or because they submitted their works as an attachment, where it was said to be written/submitted in the body of the mail, or vice versa. That is why it is important for entrants to comprehensively study the competition rules and the submission guidelines and ensure their works conform to them before applying or submitting for any contest.

 

In a competition where word count is given, it is advisable for entrants to stop at 10 to 30 words below the given word count, in case of mistakes. For instance, if the competition rule says that the essay SHOULD NOT BE MORE THAN 500 WORDS, I advise the entrant to stop at 490 words below. Just make your point and drop pen. Some judges are even happy when you make your points in few words than writing a lengthy but incoherent epistle. 

 

It is called word count, but that does not mean that you should start counting the words with your bare mouth after writing. After writing your work, copy it and visit www.wordcounter.net in your browser. You will see a box where you paste your work, and the word count will be automatically calculated and shown below the box.

 

Always go straight to the point and avoid 'thunderous' but irrelevant and incoherent vocabulary each time you're writing for a competition. Be as concise as possible. Most judges don't like to be delayed or distracted by your 'I too know' grammar and vocabulary; what they need is your point.

 

I would also advise that essayists to always ensure that they pattern their essays in such a way that they will have introduction, body, recommendations and conclusion, which may not necessarily be obviously categorized under subheadings.

 

Also, while applying for writing a competition, the applicant should try as much as possible to read previous winning entries of the competition, to see what the organisers are actually expecting. Doing so will help him write better work that is fit for the competition.

 

I also recommend that entrants always reach out to the judges (if they can) after at the end of any competition they apply for, to get the judges feedback on their works, with respect to why they won or lost, where they did well or not in their writing, and other such relevant enquires. This will help them to know where to buckle up, what to uphold or dump in their writing, etc, so as to do better in subsequent writing and competitions.

 

 

WA: WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS ESSAY COMPETITION OUTSTANDING ESSAYS?

 

IO: To, me, all the entries are outstanding in their own ways.

 

WA: WHICH BOOK ARE YOU READING AT THE MOMENT?

 

IO:  Heart of the Brave, by Anthony Ughenu

 

WA: IS THERE ANYTHING ABOUT AN ESSAY THAT WOULD MAKE YOU INSTINCTIVELY SWITCH OFF FROM READING IT?

 

 IO: Not at all; and never to be.

 

 

WA: WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES YOUR HEART SOAR A LITTLE WHEN YOU READ AN ESSAY?

 

IO: 'Show, don't tell' technique, flawless sentence construction/word flow, and good points.

 

WA: WHILE JUDGING AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS ESSAY COMPETITION WAS THERE A TIME YOU DIDN’T READ BEYOND THE FIRST PARAGRAPH OF AN ENTRY AND DISMISS IT IMMEDIATELY? 

 

IO: Not at all; I read everything, to give every entrant a tantamount footing.

 

WA: WHICH PRIZES HAVE YOU SEEN EMERGING RECENTLY THAT YOU THINK WILL HAVE A BIGGER PROMINENCE IN NIGERIAN LITERARY SCENE? 

 

IO: Every literary prize has a prospect of growing bigger, most especially those that are open to upcoming writers and new writing. It depends on the organizers, the nature of the prize itself and its repute, acceptability and dearness to people.

 

WA: DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THOSE ENTERING COMPETITIONS ARE INFLUENCED TOO MUCH BY THEIR IDEAS OF THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE JUDGES AND WRITE TO THE DETRIMENT OF THEIR ESSAY?

 

IO: Yes, to some extent. But every essayist should write thematically. The only condition under which I would hail such influence is when the writer has a belief that the judges are experienced enough to detect any act of plagiarism, and then the writer dumps his earlier intention to plagiarize someone's work, and writes originally and creatively on his own, probably to prove to the judges that he is a good and unique writer. However, in as much as the author may attempt to please the judges, he should write thematically, and not to the detriment of his work/entry.

 

WA: HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR YOU AS A JUDGE TO FIND A NEW VOICE?

 

IO: Very important! I always watch out for new ideas and new voices in any group of entries I judge. In fact that is why "Style (originality, creativity): 20%" is always part of my marking scheme. Indeed, I love to find a new voice; and I have found some over the years I have been privileged to judge competitions.

 

WA: DO YOU IMAGINE THAT READING LOTS OF ESSAYS FOR A COMPETITION LIKE THIS WILL HELP WITH TEACHING ESSAY?

 

IO: Of course!

 

WA: ANY ADVICE FOR ESSAYISTS HOPING TO WIN FUTURE PRIZE?

 

IO: They should always be very creative, write something new, comprehensively study the competition rules and submission guidelines, and always crosscheck their works two times or more (or possibly have a third party look into it) before submitting.

 

They should also study what I have said earlier about applying for competitions. 

 

WA: TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND

 

 IO: My background and my profile could be viewed at

 

https://9jabooks.com/profile/484

 

https://pmexpressng.com/young-nigerian-writer-journalist-izunna-okafor-clocks-26/

 

https://9jabooks.com/post-10152

 

WA: ANY TYPICAL/COMMON MISTAKES THAT NEW WRITERS TEND TO MAKE? 

 

IO: Most new poets tend to hide under the so-called 'poetic license' to go against the rule of concord in their poems; while in actual sense, they don't know the correct expression. I loathe and condemn that with every seriousness in me. We are no more in King James era. 

 

The only place I don't frown at such is where the poet compromises necessarily to maintain the meters of his poem, as you can see in some hymns in the Ancient and Modern hymnbook, the meters of which must be maintained, because they are usually sung as songs. In a situation like that, such compromise is justifiable, as it is obviously deliberate, and not a mistake, as many new poets make.

 

Again, most new writers are always in a hurry to publish their work, which most times may end up being dead on arrival, because of mistakes, typographical errors.

 

In addition to the above, most new writers have money as their primary motive for writing; but I guess passion should be the driving force.

 

Aside these three I can remember now, other mistakes I earlier mentioned also count.

 

WA: WHAT EXCITES YOU ABOUT A PIECE OF WRITING AND WHAT MAKES YOUR HEART SINK? 

 

IO: As I said earlier, the creativity and uniqueness of writer, flawless sentence construction/word flow, good points, and ultimately the message the piece carries along.

 

WA: WHO ARE YOUR FAVOURITE WRITERS AND WHY? 

 

IO: Having read many Nigerian and foreign authors of different genres, and having read many upcoming writers as a judge and literary coach, I always find it difficult to name some as favourite writers and leave some, because different things interest me in different writers' works and writing style. So, every good writer is my favourite... Don't tell me you don't know who a good writer is.

 

WA: WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE? 

 

IO: I currently have three upcoming books. That's all I can say now. Others will unfold quite sooner in their best footings. And interested fellows will see or hear them through the various media and online platforms, as they manifest.

 

WA: WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A NEW WRITER STARTING OUT? 

 

IO: Aside what I have said above, I advise new writers and in fact every writer to read authors' interviews, have mentors, and join writers communities/associations, both online and physically. 

 

Reading other people's works is very important. We have many writers and few readers today. And that is bad. I would advise an emerging writer to read ardently and write ardently too. Passion and creativity should drive his pen, interest and aspiration. He shouldn't write to be called a writer; rather, he should write because he is a writer. 

 

Again, writers (especially bourgeoning ones) should not always be in haste to publish their works, so as to minimize chances of errors and mistakes of any kind associated with writing and publishing. They should always work, re-work, and re-re-work on their manuscripts, and ensure it passes through third party(ies)/editor(s) before publishing it. And they should always be open to and ready for criticism.

 

Also, no writer should be a writer primarily to win awards or recognitions. Passion and intent to positivity impact the society and the humanity, should be the driving factor behind their writings. Awards, recognitions and other such incentives are good, (of course I have won some); and I would advise writers to submit their suitable works for any if opportunity calls. Of course, it is one of the ways a writer appraises the worth/quality, acceptability or impacts of his pencraft and literary products. They (awards and recognitions) are desiderata, but should be seen as appendages, incentives and appraisal factors, not as nitty-gritty of writing.

 

WA: HOW SHOULD OUR MEMBERS APPROACH YOU IF THEY WANT TO?

 

IO: E-mail: izunnaokafor70@gmail.com

 

Phone: +2348163938812

 

Facebook: Izunna Okafor

 

Location: Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria.