The initiative by the Ministry of Arts and Culture is meant to boost the interest of young people in writing.

The Minister of Arts and Culture, Prof. Narcisse Mouelle Kombi, on February 17, 2016, in Yaounde, announced at a press briefing the launch of this year’s National Young Writers’ Competition.

According to the Minister, the contest, which ran from February 18-March 18, 2016, was meant for young people of both sexes aged at most 30 years by March 31, 2016, who had never published any work. Both those resident in the country and abroad were eligible to participate.

The deadline for receiving entries was March 18, 2016. This year’s competition focused on the short story, with many prizes on offer. With a minimum of five and maximum of 10 pages, the stories in English or French, were to be written on A4 paper.

Two soft copies of each story were to be submitted after filling in registration forms collected from any Regional Delegation of Arts and Culture or downloaded from http://concoursnouvel16.canalblog.com.

Meanwhile, guidelines for the literary contest were obtainable from Regional Delegations of Arts and Culture. Organisers point out that the competition helps to highlight the relationship between literature and peace.

The objective being to promote the creation of more literary works among youth as well as boost the volume and quality of Cameroon’s literature in general.