Tag Archives: African Challenge

BIC ART MASTER AFRICA CONTEST, 2026

Application Deadline: 11:59 pm GMT Monday 20-July-2026.

LOCATION: Africa

BIC® brings to you the “Art Master” Ball Pen art contest that encourages the talents across Africa and the Middle East to showcase their creativity and compete with fellow artists.

Contest Theme: “Tomorrow in Your Hands” is a theme that celebrates the power of creativity to shape what lies ahead. It invites artists to express their hopes, stories, and imagination, showing that tomorrow is something we create with our own hands.

ELIGIBILITY:

Entry is open to all Africa and Middle East residents aged 13 years or older. Entrants under 18 years of age must have the consent of a parent/guardian to enter. Further, the parent/guardian of the entrant must read and consent to the Terms. Parents/guardians may be required by the Promoter to enter into a further agreement as evidence of consent to the minor participating in this competition. All warranties and agreements provided in the Terms by an Entrant are also deemed to be provided by the parent or legal guardian of such an Entrant if the Entrant is a minor

Eligible Countries: Algeria, Angola, Bahrain, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, DR Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

The Competition Period starts at 12:00 am GMT Monday 20-APRIL-2026.

The competition closes at 11:59 pm GMT Monday, 20-JULY-2026.

No entries will be accepted after this time

Entrants should ensure that content is original, authentic and the rightful property of the entrant. It is a condition of entry that the prize winner agrees for their name to be published for marketing purposes anywhere in the world in any format

Entrants are required to create a large scale (no smaller than A3) piece of art using only BIC® Ball Pen. Once an entrant has completed an art, art can be submitted through the Competition Platform.

Entrants can submit 3 entries that are substantially unique and submitted separately in accordance with these terms.

BENEFIT:

BIC Art Master of Africa receives 2,000 USD cash prize, personalized virtual gallery developed by BIC for the winner (to manage, upload the winning artwork for 1 years) and possibility of getting the artwork featured in La BIC collection of Art by purchasing the artwork.

Second Place Prize Winner: receives a 1,000 USD cash prize only.

Third Place Prize Winner: receives a 500 USD cash prize only.

National Winner of Country: receives a 500 USD cash prize only.

Lucky Voter winner receives prize valued at 250 USD

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AKO CAINE PRIZE AWARDS FOR AFRICAN WRITING, 2026

Application Deadline: on Friday, 27 February 2026 (12:00 GMT)

LOCATION: United Kingdom

The 2026 AKO Caine Prize Award for African Writing is open for application. Entries must be submitted by a publisher. This includes publishers of physical and digital books, literary journals, magazines, and arts-oriented websites.

ELIGIBILITY:

The story must have been published in the five years preceding the submission deadline. For 2026 eligibility, the judges will only consider work published between 27th February 2021 and 27th February 2026.

Entries must be between 3,000 and 10,000 words in length

Writers must be over 18 years of age at the time of submission.

Self-published and unpublished short stories are not eligible.

Publishers are encouraged to submit multiple short stories as long as they do not submit more than one story by the same author.

Stories may only be entered for consideration for the Caine Prize for African Writing once. Unfortunately, this means that you may not resubmit a story for consideration, even if it was not selected for the shortlist.

Genres not eligible for entry include novels, children’s stories, factual writing, academic essays, plays, poetry, autobiography/biography, and any work that does not constitute a fictional short story.

Submissions must specify which African country the author comes from and the short story word count.

Publishers must obtain the consent of the author before submitting the short story.

When submitting digitally published short stories, kindly provide a PDF version. Alternatively, you may instead provide a PDF containing a link to the publication.

Submissions that do not meet the above criteria will not be eligible for the prize. If you have any questions or queries regarding our eligibility criteria, please email: submissions@caineprize.com we will be happy to assist!

By submitting a story, publishers and writers agree to the conditions outlined above in the criteria, as well as those below in the Frequently Asked Questions section and Google Form. Shortlisted candidates will receive separate terms and conditions.

BENEFIT:

Up to £10,000 cash prizes are available to be won

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