Essay Competition: The Teacher Who Changed My Life

Azizah Magazine is partnering with New America Media (NAM) and other media partners in Atlanta, GA to organize an essay contest to honor teachers.

If you are a resident of Atlanta or its surrounding counties, you can enter the competition in one of the following categories:

1) Teenagers between 14 to 18 years old: Write about a teacher, who is not your relative, who teaches in public or private school in the city of Atlanta or surrounding counties.

Awards of $500 to both the winner and the teacher profiled.

2) Adults 19 years of age and older: Write about a teacher, who is not your relative, who teaches in public or private school in the city of Atlanta or surrounding counties who have changed your life or the life of your child.

Awards of $500 to both the winner and the teacher profiled.

3) Teachers in Memory: Write about a teacher, who is not your relative, who might have passed away or lost contact with, or a teacher who taught you in your home country.

$500 awarded to local school of winner's choice.

Essays can be up to 500 words and must be submitted by January 14, 2013.

Continue reading here for more details and official contest rules.

Deadline Extended!

Remember the two writing competitions at the IWA I told you about last month? Originally, the deadline for submissions was supposed to be November 8, 2011, but it has now been extended to November 18, 2011.

2012 Arab American Book Award

 According to this announcement:

Submissions are currently being accepted for the 2012 Arab American Book Award. Authors and publishers may contact Kristin LaLonde at 313.624.0223 or klalonde@accesscommunity.org for nomination forms and criteria. Submission deadline is February 01, 2012.

The Arab American Book Award honors significant literature by and about Arab Americans and was established by the Arab American National Museum in 2006. Categories include fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and children/young adult. Last year's winner in the children's category was Time to Pray, by Maha Addasi.

It's that time of year again...

It's hard to believe that it is already time for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). If you're unfamiliar with the event, each November participating writers from around the world spend the month working to complete the rough draft of a 50,000-word novel. It sounds like a lot of work, but it is basically writing a little more than 1,600 words each day, which is very doable if you are motivated. Good things can come out of NaNoWriMo. I personally know a few authors who completed novels during the month and went on to have them published. Others broke out of their longstanding writer's block to find that they are capable of writing a full-length novel. There is even a NaNoWriMo for young writers.

Are you participating? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Creative Inspiration from 1001 Inventions

Abbas ibn Firnas

 

 

Unfortunately, I did not find out about the Creative Story Writing Competition taking place at 1001 Inventions until after the deadline for participation had passed, but the guidelines are worth taking a look at anyway, especially if you are a teacher, a homeschooling parent, or a writer who simply needs a burst of creativity. The guidelines provide you with a list of eleven figures from the Golden Age of Muslim civilization. The idea is to choose one and write a 5,000-word story that includes the character. Historical accuracy is encouraged, but the rules also allow for some artistic license. I can definitely see a story like this making a nifty book for kids or even turning into a full-length novel.

Did you participate in this competition?

If so, tell us about it by leaving a comment below.

Recipe Contest at Sadia

Sadia, a producer of halal frozen food, including chicken, turkey, pizza, meatballs, and other items, is currently sponsoring a recipe contest for legal residents of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Yemen, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon. The first place winner will receive two airline tickets to the destination of his or her choice, while nine other winners will receive home appliances. You must use at least one Sadia product in your recipe.



Deadline for participation: November 13, 2011

To enter, see the Guidelines.

Two Writing Competitions at the IWA

The Islamic Writers Alliance (IWA) is currently sponsoring two writing competitions:

Islamic Fiction Stories Contest

• Contest Theme: The writer may choose the topic/genre/theme as long as the story is Islamic fiction.
• Maximum word count: 2,500 words
• Submissions: October 15, 2011 through November 8, 2011

Essay Writing Contest 
(co-sponsored with the Zakat Foundation of America)

• Contest Theme: A Muslim’s Responsibility to Neighbors and Community
• Maximum word count: 1,200 words
• Submissions: October 15, 2011 through November 8, 2011

For each competition, there are three categories in which one can participate:

• IWA Member
• Adult Muslim (general public)
• Young Adult Muslim (ages 13-17)

The first-place winner in each category will receive $50 and a copy of the soon-to-be-published IWA cookbook, Serving Up Faith.

Poetry Contest at the IWA

The Islamic Writers Alliance (IWA) is currently holding its seventh annual Islamic poetry contest. The deadline for submitting poems is April 30, 2011, and guidelines are available here. There are three categories for submissions:

• IWA members
• Adults 18 and over who are not members of the IWA
• Youth under 18 who are not members of the IWA

Although there is no mention of a prize on the IWA website, a cash prize is usually awarded to the winner in each category. Write to the IWA for confirmation.

More Muslim Manga: End the Occupation

A new Muslim Manga competition has been announced at Deviant Art.

In part, the guidelines state:

You need to make a manga about the situation in Palestine. You can make a manga about the tragedies the Palestinians go through or a manga about a group of people fighting back the occupiers. The story can be fiction, or non fiction.

Deadline: December 30, 2010

Continue reading here.

Muslim Manga Contest

Do you like manga? Are you a talented artist? If so, you might enjoy participating in this Muslim Manga contest. The idea of this contest is to take an existing anime and incorporate Muslim characters/themes into it.  

Basic instructions are as follows:

Your Manga (comic) will have to be a side story to an anime (any anime you want, as long as it is appropriate). What that means is you make your own story and have the anime's Characters in it. The thing is you have to make it Islamic. I have a couple examples that you can use if you want to, but it should give you an idea of what the contest is about. One, you can make a story where the characters are all Muslim and you show their day to day life in an Islamic environment with Islamic attitude and behaviors. Two, you can make a story, where one character has become Muslim and he is telling the other characters of the anime about Islam and how great and peaceful it is, and ultimately at the end of the story, those characters the Muslim character is talking to will become Muslim too.

Those are two examples to get you started, but you can do your own story, but ultimately, there has to be at least one or two characters who have become Muslim in the story. So be creative! Also, please only use one series. Do not combine characters from multiple animes into one story.

Keep reading for more information.

Deadline: November 30, 2010

NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The goal is to start (and finish) a 50,000 word novel by November 30th. This year, I know of several Muslims who will participate. I am personally tempted to join the fun but think I will be too busy with my regular freelance commitments. Nevertheless, I have signed up under the user name precisiontext. What about you? Let us know in the comments section below.

Poetry Contest at The Muslim Voice

The Muslim Voice is holding a poetry contest with a $500 prize. You must be a member to participate. Although the guidelines say the deadline is 1/14/2010, I think this may be a typo. It seems more likely that the deadline is actually 1/14/2011. Contact the organizers to be sure.

Click here for more Islamic writing competitions.

Islamic Fiction Contest at the IWA

The Islamic Writers Alliance (IWA) is holding its 2nd annual Islamic Fiction Contest. The competition is open to three categories of participants:

• IWA Members
• Adults – authors 18 and over who are not members of IWA
• Youth – authors between the ages of 13 and 17

According to the IWA website:

Entries may be of any genre, including but not limited to: adventure, comic, crime, detective, fantasy, family historical fiction, mystery, romance, thriller, western

Stories submitted to the competition must be received by November 10, 2010. Winning authors will be awarded cash prizes (typically $50 per winning entry but not yet confirmed for this year).

Complete guidelines are available here.

Women's Voices from the Muslim World

Women’s Voices Now is hosting Women’s Voices from the Muslim World: A Short-Film Festival, "giving a voice to women of all faiths living in Muslim-majority countries and Muslim women living as minorities around the globe."

According to the website:

Filmmakers of any gender, nationality and religion are invited to submit films, but emphasis will be put on generating submissions from women living in Muslim-majority countries.

And:

Cash prizes totaling $35,000 will be awarded to winners in several categories including Fiction, Documentary, Student Films and an Experimental category encouraging submissions of silent films, animated films, mobile films and photo montages, as well as films where the content outweighs the technical tools and skills of the filmmaker.

Submissions are currently open and will remain open until November 1, 2010 without charge. However, filmmakers may submit films until November 24, 2010 for a US$20 fee.

Complete guidelines are available here.

Seventh Annual Brass Crescent Awards

Each year, the Brass Crescent Awards honor the best blogs in the Islamosphere. Nominations in various categories are currently being accepted through Friday, October 8, 2010. After that, people will get to vote on which blogs they like the best in each category.

There are several blogs worthy of being nominated, and I have already nominated four that I really like. The blogs I chose are not typical of the ones nominated each year. I purposely chose blogs that I feel are truly beneficial to the Muslim community and which are not focused solely on the blogger's personal life and thoughts.

It is very easy to nominate a blog. Just hop on over to BrassCrescent.org, and fill out the form. You may nominate as many blogs as you like.

Poetry Contest at the IWA

The Islamic Writers Alliance is sponsoring its Annual Poetry Contest for the year 2010 in April, coinciding with National Poetry Month in the United States. 

The theme for this year's contest is ibadah (worship), and submissions will be accepted from April 1-30, 2010. 

Click here to read the IWA's Poetry Submission Guidelines.

Mini Muslims and Money

The Muslim Writers Awards is partnering with HSBC Amanah to introduce a separate Awards category for school children from Schools across the UK.

 

Mini Muslims and Money is a project designed to encourage the exploration and discussion of ideas related to spending and saving money without interest, from an early age, by submitting a short story or piece of poetry centred on this theme.

Winners will receive prizes and be announced at the Young Muslim Writers Awards ceremony.

Deadline: April 1, 2010

Read more about this competition here.

Shakespeare "Shook Up"

It is a little late for this (only a week left before the deadline of March 31), but some people might be interested in this competition:

MUSLIM YOUTH HELPLINE in association with THE MUSLIM WRITERS AWARDS presents:

SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2010 Reinvent Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ from the perspective of a young British Muslim in 2010.

Two age categories: 14-19, 20-25

First prize: £400
Runner-up prize: £100

Final deadline: March 31, 2010

More details here.

"Mum Loves Me" Birth Stories Competition

Mum Loves Me (an online community for Muslim mothers and mothers to-be) is compiling birth stories which are "inspiring, adventurous, and emotional." Although the wording is not 100 percent clear, it looks like at least one writer will be awarded a $100 Gift Certificate from Babies "R" Us.

Deadline: March 22, 2010 

Read more here.

Journalism Scholarships Available for Muslim Students

The TMO Foundation is pleased to announce five scholarships to students in journalism and communications.

The first prize carries $1500, the second $1,000 and the third $750. Additionally, two more scholarships of $1,000 each will be awarded to students in need of financial subsidy to pursue education.

Students can choose any of the following essay topics:

1) Why do I want to be a journalist?

2) What does it mean to be a Muslim journalist?

3) What are some of the most serious issues that the Muslim American community faces in the USA?

4) What is the most effective way to counter “Islamophobia”?

5) How should Muslim American youth be involved in debates about policy?

6) How should Muslim Americans relate with the rest of the Muslim world?

7) How can Muslim Americans become an effective and dynamic part of the American pluralism?

Deadline: March 15, 2010

Click here for more information about the scholarships.