Crocodile Prize Winners Will be Announced Tonight

 

The winners of Papua New Guinea’s National Literature Awards – The Crocodile Prize 2016 will be announced this evening at the Australian High Commission, Port Moresby. The competition attracted 550 entries from PNG writers.

Each category winner receives K5000 tonight.

The Crocodile Prize Writers Competition is named after the first novel written by a Papua New Guinean, “The Crocodile” by Sir Vincent Eri and published in 1970. It is an annual competition that has been running successfully for five years under Keith Jackson and Phil Fitzpatrick since they started it. The 2016 saw the first time the writers of PNG took ownership of the competition and ran it successfully.

As the current Crocodile Prize Committee Chairman I sincerely thank our two major sponsors Kina Finance and SP Holdings for their generous contributions of K10,000 each and sponsors; Cleland Family, Kumul Holdings,Paga Hill Development Foundation, PNG Chamber of Mines, Mineral Resources Development Corporation, and Abt and Associates for their generous contributions of K5000 each. We also thank the Australian High Commission for hosting this event and Andrew Edwards at Global for sponsoring a laptop for the competition.

All together, the 2016 committee comprising, Baka Bina (former Chairman) and Joycelin Leahy (current Deputy Chair), and Ruth Moiam began work from September 2015 to 2017 to raise a total of K50,000 prize money. I joined the Crocodile Prize and relieved Baka Bina of the chairman’s position (because he had a lot of work obligations) in May 2016 and helped negotiate the last sponsorships mid last year and ensured we formalised the Crocodile Prize Inc by registering at the organisation at IPA. At that time we added Marlene Dee Gray Potoura to the committee and Martyn Namorong later in the year. In addition, it was a blessing to have Gretel Matawan join the committee to assist with some of the administration work.

We could not have run Crocodile Prize without the support of our sponsors and the hard work put into the competition by only a handful of volunteers. The Crocodile Prize email and Crocodile Blog have been run by Joycelin Leahy. Over 1000 emails, comments, letters and feedback from PNG writers have been managed through the emails and the blog.

I would like to sincerely thank and congratulate everyone for their hard work and enthusiasm to drive the Crocodile Prize from the beginning in Simbu (September 2015) to the end with prize-giving in Port Moresby tonight. I also thank the overwhelming response from all PNG writers to enter the competition. We want to raise the entries to 1000 this year – 2017.

One winner will be chosen out of each category finalists listed below to win the K5000. The finalists’ names are not listed in any order of winning, but only to show who came in the finals. The committee encourages all finalists to attend the ceremony.

Category 1 

2016 Crocodile Prize – Kina Finance, Poetry Category –  Short List

1. Dying Man by Vagi Samuel Jnr
2. Miracle’s Monday Trip by Samuel Jnr
3. Paradeigmania by Wardly D Barry – Igivisa

Category 2 

2016 Crocodile Prize – Kumul Petroleum Limited Holdings, Short Stories Category – Short List

• Old Man’s Tears by Alexander Nara
• A Morning to Remember by Alison Kult
• The Pulse of PNG by Kevin Pondikou

Category 3 

2016 Crocodile Prize – Cleland Family, Heritage Writing Category –  Short List

1. Morekea Town by Julie Kondi
2. Waghi by Gina Amba Mul
3. Ketar Natis, Killings and Two Grieving Kinsmen by Theresa Gizoria

Category 4 

2016 Crocodile Prize –  Paga Hill Foundation, Writing for Children Category – Short List and Winner

1. King of the Forest by Marycathrine Tavore
2. How darkness came to the Telei lands or how the rhinoceros beetle broke his nose by Agnes Rita Maineke
3. Why Dogs Bark by Romney C Tabara

Category 5 

2016 Crocodile Prize – PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum, Essays and Journalism Category – Short List and Winner

1. Ah! The way we behave sometimes by John Kamasua
2. Regionalism – The most pressing threat to our nationhood by Busa Jeremiah Wenego
3. Cervical Cancer A Killer disease by Jina Amba Mull

Category 6 

2016 Crocodile Prize –  South Pacific Brewery, Illustrations Category –  Short List and Winner – No entries received this year.

Category 7 

Minerals Resources Development Corporations, Women in Writing Category

Names to be finalised by tonight.

Category 8 

2016 Crocodile Prize – Abt and Associates, Emerging Young Writer Category

Names to be finalised by tonight. – Chairman Emmanuel Peni.