PNG writing – Crocodile Prize PNG

2017 Annual Report of Crocodile Prize

5 Short List Winners of the 2017 Crocodile Prize Competition, Library for all, Writing for Children Category

Children’s writing is a specialised kind of literature. Generally, for children’s literature in PNG, our PNG culture has the same stories told to adults as well as children. The same messages are passed on through legends, tales, fables, comedy, parody, satire and spoof to all ages. However, in modern literature, there are some significant differences. Basically, the writing for children portions out the central ideas and bring out just one tiny aspect of a larger thought or concept in a story or illustration as a literature piece. The idea of love or kindness for example, can possibly be expressed in many many short stories, breaking up the central theme or concept into bits and pieces. This helps to build the required building blocks for the bigger or larger concept for the child as they develop their personalities. The central element of writing for children (more like an unstated golden rule) is that illustrations have to be part of the writing. Our entries for the 2017, Crocodile Prize Competition illustrates a need for PNG writers to embrace illustrations in their art. This year’s entries could also benefit from a writing workshop or coaching specializing in writing for children. Otherwise, the entries this year, small in numbers came from a diverse background. The winner of the year, 2016 Crocodile Prize Competition, Abt and Assiociate, Emerging Young writers, Mr Peter Jokisie sent in the winning entry piece. Who would have thought Peter Jokisie could win the Writing for Children Category, when he wrote about drugs and adult themes with sophistication and deliciously arranged words.

The ‘Library for all’ an NGO from Australia, came on board to support the Crocodile Prize to create more publicity to and sponsored the Prize for the Writing for Children Category.

Below are the short list winners of the 2017 Crocodile Prize Competition, Library for all, Writing for Children Category.

 Hunting Trip by Leila Parina

 Charlotte and the Shiny Crocodile by Peter Jokisie

 Bruno satisfied his hunger for meat by Charlene Nii

 Snoopy the Lost Puppy by Jordan Dean

 The Collapsed Mess Table by Jimmy Awagl

Hunting Trip by Leila Parina
Leilah says she is not an outgoing person. She prefers to spend time alone or with those who are close to her. She loves reading, writing, sketching, and dancing. Leila is happy to Volunteer her time with worthwhile projects.

Leilah has been writing since she was 9 years old (mostly in her personal journals/diaries) but her first published work was just out in 2017. A piece called ‘A paradigm shift’ was featured in the PNG anthology ‘My walk to Equality’. Leilah has written poems, short stories and essays.

Charlotte and the Shiny Crocodile by Peter Jokisie
Peter is a Safety Supervisor with the, Dulux Group LTD
Peter and is from Morobe and lives in Lae. He enjoys reading and writing in the following genres: thrillers, fantasy, horror and science fiction.

He has been writing for seven years. Peter writes under my pseudonym of J.P. Richard. Some his work has been published in the Crocodile Prize Anthologies of 2012, 2014 and 2016. He won the award for the 2016 Crocodile Prize Competition, Abt and Associates, Emerging Young Writer Award.

Bruno satisfied his hunger for meat by Charlene Nii
Charlene works in Sales. She is inspired by her father Francis Nii who is an established Author in PNG. Charlene plans to continue writing.

Snoopy the Lost Puppy by Jordan Dean
Jordan Dean works as a Director (until confirmed) of Grants Management Organisation in Port Moresby, NCD. He has been writing as a hobby for over a decade. Several of his poems and short stories have been published on international sites and magazines including: Power Poetry, Dissident Voice Magazine, Creative Talents Unleashed, Tuck Magazine, Micro Poetry, Story Write, Spill Words Literary Press and PNG Attitude. Jordan has published 4 books: ‘Tattooed Face: A collection of Poems’ (2016), ‘Follow the Rainbow: Selected Poems’ (2016), ‘Stranger in Paradise & other Short Stories’ (2016) and ‘Silent Thoughts: Exploring Poetry’’ (2017). These books are available on Amazon.

The Collapsed Mess Table by Jimmy Awagl
Jimmy is a secondary school teacher. He is the founder & vice president of Simbu Writers Association. He regularly contributes to the PNG Attitude Blogg. He writes as a hobby apart from classroom teaching. Jimmy has authored four books so far. He plans to write and publish more books.

Short list of the 2017 Crocodile Prize Competition, Minerals Resources Development Corporation, Women in Writing Category

Five Women in Writing shortlisted for the 2017 Minerals Resources Development Corperations Women in Writing Award

The 2017 Crocodile Prize Competition experienced a stronger women movement in Writing. There were more women than men (55 % of total entries) submitting literary entry. Women had better quality writing and were superior in their choice of topics and ideas. A proper assessment on the entries could possibly illustrate more about the contribution in literature from the entirs.

This category is obviously meant to promote equity. Its an opportunity for women to have a larger space to showcase their talents gifts and abilities. The trend has been nothing but positive. The wave of talents have been strong. The following names of women listed below is the short list winners for this category.

 Kepan Kepas Winuan
 Evah Kuamin Banige
 Leila Parina
 Carol Kouron
 Kirsten Aria

The shortlisted literary entries above have been sent to the sponsors who have picked the overall winner. The overall winner will be announced at the Awards Reception event on the 22nd February 2018, here in Port Moresby. The brief biographies below illustrate a little bit more about the shortlisted authors.

Kepan Kepas Winuan

Kepan Kepas Winuan is a Teacher at the Kudjip Nazarene High School, Kudjip Nazarene Station, Jiwaka Province.

Kepan is currently working on publishing two books and a school magazine. These literary materials are; Book of Synonyms, Developing Writing Skills and School Journal.

Her first book (Book of Homonyms) has been completed. She is now negotiating with Notion Press Publishing Company of India to have it published.

Evah Kuamin Banige

Evah Kuamin Banige is an Administration Officer in Lae, Morobe Province.
She is passionate about writing, helping children and advocating for change and development in her community. She wrote: ‘Victims of violence have to rise up and speak out for their own good. I believe I have taken the biggest step to write about my experiences as a woman facing violence through this competition’

She has been writing since her primary school days. She won a prize for the story of her experience of the 1994 Twin Volcanic Eruptions which was published in book of collection of short stories. Part of 4th Year Journalism Thesis was published in the South Pacific Islands Journalism Communication. One of her entry won the 2012 World Health Organization (WHO) Best Award in the Print Category of the PNG Media Awards.

Kirsten Aria

Kirsten is from Ihu in the Gulf Province. She enjoys literature. Kirsten entered an entry in 2012 under the Heritage category. The Heritage category entry in that year was aired by EmTV as content in a program focussed on Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea.

Leila Parina

Leila wrote a candid and beautifully stringed words into a poetry about violence. Leila has been writing since at the age of 9. She mostly wrote in her private journals. Her first published work was out in 2017. It is called “A paradigm shift” which was featured in the PNG Anthology “My walk to Equality”.

Judged Five Best Short Story Entries for 2017 Crocodile Prize Competition

Below are the five best short stories entered for the Short Story Category of the 2017 Crocodile Prize Competition. The numbers of the short stories entered for the 2017 Crocodile Prize Competition was low compared to the previous years. But the quality has been outstanding. The story lines and characters were better developed. The stories were better organised so the build-up to a climax were deliberate and entertaining. The emerging writers have also come from a more diverse background. Electricians to carpenters and Literature students of the University of Papua New Guinea and more. Several of these are first timers who do not identify themselves as writers. The following titles below were the selected short list of the winners after the long process of filing, culling and judging. Only one more process is left, that is: Selection of the overall winner among the 5 winners as identified by the judges.

The winners for the 2017 Crocodile Prize Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited Short Story Category are the following entries:

The Enchantment of Money by Nathan Yange K
I Did Not Know What Was Behind the Door by Nathan Yange K
Maria by Shirley Maki
Two Faces by Kirsten Aria
My trials, my foes, in Primary School by Iso Yawi

The Enchantment of Money, Nathan Yange K
I Did Not Know What Was Behind the Door by Nathan Yange K
Two of Nathan’s short stories as stated above were shortlisted as the 5 winners of the 2017 Crocodile Prize Competition, Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited, Short Story Category. Nathan is from Ambum, Kompaim, Enga Province. Studying Pharmacy at the School of Medicine and Health Science at the University of Papua New Guinea. Besides studying, Nathan writes for pleasure. He has not published anything and does not regard himself as a writer. He recently found out about the Crocodile Prize and decided to send in several entries in different categories.

Maria by Shirley Maki (Bio not included in the entry submission)

Two Faces by Kirsten Aria
Kirsten is from Ihu in the Gulf Province. She enjoys literature. Kirsten entered an entry in 2012 under the Heritage category. The Heritage category entry in that year was aired by EmTV as content in a program focussed on Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea.

My trials, my foes, in Primary School by Iso Yawi
Iso Yawi is a Sepik who lives in Lae, Morobe Province. Iso works as an Electrician. Writing has been his passion. He has written poetries and short stories. He also appreciates other literature materials including art and plays. Iso had some of his entries published in the 2015 and 2016 Crocodile Prize Anthology. He has a Facebook page titled ‘Transparent World’ where most of his literary work are uploaded.

Five entries shortlisted for the 2017 Crocodile Prize Cleland Family Heritage Category Award

The 2017 Crocodile Prize Cleland Family Heritage Category received a collection of interesting topics that were written about and sent in. This continues to highlight our rich tapestry of stories which is an intricate and significant part of our Papua New Guinean cultural heritage. Our forefathers created, maintained and strengthened relationships through stories in Papua New Guinea. The skill of storytelling is like a rope being weaved together in varying styles, colours and strength for a perfect bilum to capture and carry the rich and unique culture and heritage of our people. Stories were sacred and were told appropriately and respectfully at the right time. Stories in Papua New Guinea were culturally used for several noble purposes by our ancestors and they were exchanged freely and as gifts. Knowledge was transferred through stories and traditional mark-making. Telling stories was embedded into daily activities. Stories were sung in songs for the dead and the living, for harvest, for births and celebrations. Our elders were super banks of knowledge and information and ensured this intangible asset was handed down to the right person in the family to continue to take this knowledge and practice into the future. All stories were told for each generation to pass on as a way of safeguarding history. Stories were also entertainment in themselves and evening sessions by the fire created warmth and unity amongst families, friends and tribeswomen and tribesmen.

The Cleland Family has been the sponsor for this category since the inception of the competition. This family has a rich story of their connections to PNG, a place they call home. They see without doubt the significance of capturing these stories. Our culture has evolved significantly but these literary entries are a captured snapshot of the piece of time.
Thank you for those who have sent in stories from their knowledge banks, found in their story shelves and readily available in their pockets. Thank you for being part of a process to help document our culture.
Congratulations to have been selected as winners of the 2017 Crocodile Prize Competition Cleland Family Heritage Category. The shortlisted entrants of the competition come with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Listed below are the titles and the names of entrants considered as winners.

The Entries and the Entrants

 Busanu by Julie Sugoho

 The Necessity of Integrating Traditional Engan Education with Modern
Education by Simon E Davidson

 Mwata’yala (A legend about the lake people) by Jordan Dean

 Gabubu (A legend of the White Dove) by Jordan Dean

 My Family Heritage – NGAI by EVAH KUAMIN BANIGE

Busanu by Julie Sugoho
Julie is a Customs Broker based in Lae, Morobe Province. Julie loves to read and do many things besides her work and her Volunteering with an NGO. She started writing at around 2012, when she joined Toastmasters, because she had to write her own speeches. She has been taking part in the Crocodile book prize since 2013.

My Family Heritage – NGAI by EVAH KUAMIN BANIGE
Evah Kuamin Banige is an Administration Officer in Lae, Morobe Province.
She is passionate about writing, helping children and advocating for change and development in her community. She wrote: ‘Victims of violence have to rise up and speak out for their own good. I believe I have taken the biggest step to write about my experiences as a woman facing violence through this competition’.
She has been writing since her primary school days. She won a prize for the story of her experience in the 1994 Twin Volcanic Eruptions which was published in book of collection of short stories. Part of 4th Year Journalism Thesis was published in the South Pacific Islands Journalism Communication. One of her entry won the 2012 World Health Organization (WHO) Best Award in the Print Category of the PNG Media Awards.

The Necessity of Integrating Traditional Engan Education with Modern Education by Simon. E Davidson
Simon E Davidson is from Mulitaka Village, Wabag in the Enga Province. Simon is a Pastor by training and currently work as a teacher who is interested and enjoys creative writing, especially poems, essays and novels. He started writing in 2013, after many false starts. He wrote poems and short stories and a few novels which are yet to be published. Some of his short articles were published in the PNG attitude blog.

Mwata’yala (A legend about the lake people) by Jordan Dean
Jordan Dean works as a Director (until confirmed) of Grants Management Organisation in Port Moresby, NCD. He has been writing as a hobby for over a decade. Several of his poems and short stories have been published on international sites and magazines including: Power Poetry, Dissident Voice Magazine, Creative Talents Unleashed, Tuck Magazine, Micro Poetry, Story Write, Spill Words Literary Press and PNG Attitude.
Jordan has published 4 books: ‘Tattooed Face: A collection of Poems’ (2016), ‘Follow the Rainbow: Selected Poems’ (2016)), ‘Stranger in Paradise & other Short Stories’ (2016)) and ‘Silent Thoughts: Exploring Poetry’’ (2017)). These books are available on Amazon.

Gabubu (A legend of the White Dove) by Jordan Dean

Five entries shortlisted for the 2017 Crocodile Prize Chamber of Mines and Petroleum, Essays and Journalism Award

The 2017 Crocodile Prize Essays and Journalism Category received a collection of interesting topics that were written about and sent in. The topics varied greatly. Predictably, a good number of the entries were about Politics, Corruption, Power and Leadership. 2017 was the year of the Papua New Guinea National Elections and so the number of entries talking about this illustrated this. Congratulations to the 5 entries that were shortlisted for the 2017 Crocodile Prize, PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum, Essays and Journalism Category. The shortlisted entrants of the competition come with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Listed below are the titles and the names of entrants considered as winners.

 The Murder by Kepan Kepas Winuan
 The Positive Side of Men by Michael Geketa
 Lack of Readers and Buyers in Papua New Guinea by Jordan Dean
 Her Fight by Evah Kuamin Banige
 Doctors without Medical Borders by William Tau -Vali

The shortlisted literary entries above have been sent to the sponsors who have picked the overall winner. The overall winner will be announced at the Awards Reception event on the 17th February 2018, here in Port Moresby. The brief biographies below illustrate a little bit more about the shortlisted authors.

The Murder by Kepan Kepas Winuan

Kepan Kepas Winuan is a Teacher at the Kudjip Nazarene High School, Kudjip Nazarene Station, Jiwaka Province.

Kepan is currently working on publishing two books and a school magazine. These literary materials are; Book of Synonyms, Developing Writing Skills and School Journal.

Her first book (Book of Homonyms) has been completed. She is now negotiating with Notion Press Publishing Company of India to have it published.

The Positive Side of Men by Michael Geketa

Michael Geketa is employed in the informal economy in Port Moresby, National Capital District, after serving in the Royal Police Constabulary for much of his life. He used to contribute his written work to Kokomo Magazine at Kerevat National High School in 1989 as a student. He also contributed poems to the Weekly Writers Column poetry corner of the National Newspaper since 2009. The 2014 and 2015 Crocodile Prize Anthology included his work, four Poems and two Essays. He has started writing a book of poems and short story. Work has also began for a framework of his biography titled: Thun der over Parkinson Ranges

Lack of Readers and Buyers in Papua New Guinea by Jordan Dean

Jordan Dean works as a Director (until confirmed) of Grants Management Organisation in Port Moresby, NCD. He has been writing as a hobby for over a decade. Several of his poems and short stories have been published on international sites and magazines including: Power Poetry, Dissident Voice Magazine, Creative Talents Unleashed, Tuck Magazine, Micro Poetry, Story Write, Spill Words Literary Press and PNG Attitude.

Jordan has published 4 books: ‘Tattooed Face: A collection of Poems’ (2016), ‘Follow the Rainbow: Selected Poems’ (2016)), ‘Stranger in Paradise & other Short Stories’ (2016)) and ‘Silent Thoughts: Exploring Poetry’’ (2017)). These books are available on Amazon.

Her Fight by Evah Kuamin Banige

Doctors Without Medical Borders by William Tau -Vali

William Tau-Vali is a retired public servant who resides at his Motuan Village of Gaire, Central Province. His background is in computing. That’s the area he studied at University but he would like to think of himself these days as an emerging writer. This is his first written work, together with the other two pieces he submitted earlier in the 2017 Crocodile Prize Competition.

Judged 5 Best Poetry Entry for 2017 Crocodile Prize Competition

The following titles below are the 5 winners of the 2017 Crocodile Prize Kina Securities Poetry Category.

The short list of the winning entries came from a long process of filing, culling and judging. Only one more process is left, that is: Selection of the overall winner among the 5 winners as identified by the judges.

The winners for the 2017 Crocodile Prize Kina Securities Poetry Category are the following entries:
Broken and beaten by Leila Parina
He is gagged by Emmanuel Marosi
We need change by Annie Dori
When tomorrow come by Leiao Gerega
Who will by Leiao Gerega

Leila Parina wrote a candid and beautifully stringed group of words into a poetry illustrating violence by those who supposed to love. Leila has been writing since she was 9 years old. She mostly wrote in her private journals. Her first published work was out in 2017. It is called “A paradigm shift” which was featured in the PNG Anthology “My walk to Equality”.

Emmanuel Marosi put together firm and strong verses which was dedicated to Martyn Namorong, a Papua New Guinean Blogger and Anti-Corruption Activist. This was when members of public took to supporting Martyn during the Tomato Head saga. Emmanuel has published several articles on the internet, on blogs and other sites like hub pages. He has been writing since 2012. He is an electrical communications engineer.

Annie Dori weaves together a rather grim scene of situations in PNG that shows societies moving toward destitute and annihilation. The poem therefore calls for change. Annie is currently under the Ok Tedi’s Graduate Program as an Occupational Nursing Officer. She loves working with communities and is passionate about Humanitarian work. She only keeps entries in her private journal. She would not consider herself as a writer or a poet.

Leiao Gerega eloquently paints a crude and bleak world we live in, in the poem ‘Who will’. The question is who will. Her other poem speaks of violence in the most animated and colourful language. Two of her entries were selected by the Judge. Leiao is reporter with South Pacific Post Courier. She loves reading, writing short stories and poems. The shortlisted entry for this year and other poems have always been dedicated her my mother. She started writing as a 10-year-old. Her writings were mostly kept in her diaries. Her first ever published work of two poems are featured in the PNG women’s first Anthology ‘My Walk to Equality’.

Message from the Voluntary Organizing Committee (VOC)

Greetings everyone for the new year, 2018. The Crocodile Prize is happy to announce the short listed entries and winners of the different categories of the 2017 Crocodile Prize Competition.

The Competition ended on the 31st October 2017. That was when the last entries from budding writers were received. Since then, the VOC has been in constant communication with several members of the writing community who are not entirely connected to the Prize and to Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Firstly, the VOC sorted out the entries at the closing. The folders for each category was put together and sent to selected Literary Expert to cull from whatever numbers of entries received to only 10 entries. This part of the process took weeks because these people doing the culling were also doing these in their free time.

The sorting out of the folders gave adequate information for a comprehensive report to be written on the organising and the result of the annual competition. The report was published on the Crocodile Prize blog, the Crocodile Prize Facebook page and in the Post Courier. A special report was also written for the Poetry category alone because of the sheer interest and the numbers of entries received for that category alone.

Secondly, on receiving the 10 selected entries, the VOC then sent these off to the Judges. This was right in the heart of the Christmas and New Year period so the Judges were given ample time to have their holidays and have some time to judge.

Thirdly, the VOC then sent the 5 selected entries of each categories to the appropriate Sponsors. The sponsors were to pick the overall winner from among the 5 entries shortlisted by the judge.

At the time of the writing this update, two of the sponsors have identified the winners of their categories. The VOC will be informing the winners soon.

In the meantime, the VOC will be publishing all the entries on their blog. A list of the winners of each of the categories will be posted in the coming days.

Some of these winners will be featured in the news as a lead up to the Prize giving event.

A Prize giving reception was planned to be staged at the Gateway Hotel on the 17th of February 2017. Traditionally, this reception was convened on a weekday and took up to 2 hours. The event at the Gateway in 2018 should take for 3 hours: i.e. from 3 o’clock to 6 o’clock in the evening. The reception will feature two key note addresses from members of the writing community, reading of 2 poems, a short story extract and a case story of what Crocodile Prize has done for an individual’s life and career.

Let’s have this time to call to stage, those with the passion for writing, illustrating and art, those with the spirit of altruism and those who want to support Literatures in PNG. Lets call to stage and acknowledge the generosity of the sponsors. Lets take the time to promote and celebrate Literature (Writing Illustrations and art) in PNG with aspiring Literary Papua New Guineans. Congratulations to all who participated in 2017 and those who have been selected as winners.

2017 Competition Report

Compiled by Gretel Matawan and Emmanuel Peni

This is an account of the 2017 Crocodile Prize Competition

The Voluntary Organising Committee (VOC) of the Annual 2017 Crocodile Prize Literature Competition in PNG is happy to announce that a successful year of literature competition has come to a close. We would like to thank all the sponsors and the public who have sincerely supported this competition.

There have been several queries on when the winners will be announced. The VOC is excited too to know about the winners. However, the winners will have to be administered through a lengthy process of judging and selection. Our Volunteers have put together the folders (9 altogether) of the entries. Below is the summary of the entrants and the entries for this year.

This is the 7^th year of the Annual Literature Prize. This year the VOC received 245 entries from 87 Papua New Guinean writers and artists.

The Table 1.0 shows that the majority of the writers are from NCD. The VOC did its best to use several media platforms to reach every PNG citizens. It is unfortunate that very few entries are coming in from outside of NCD. The Committee is looking at accepting written pieces on paper from remote places in 2018. Otherwise, the VOC will do its best to reach out to the people of PNG in 2018. Hopefully we get some entries from even those provinces not listed here: West Sepik, Southern Highlands, Hela, Western Highlands, New Ireland, Central and other PNG citizens living abroad. We have an entry from Fiji. We can confirm that it is from a Papua New Guinean citizen. We would like to also report that the entries from Gulf Province were from Kikori secondary schools after a visit by a member of the VOC in 2017. Our publicity and communications team have learnt a lot in promoting writing in the last two years of work in PNG. Literature spaces and activities in PNG have declined to a state of irrelevance. This is a tragic and frightening trend when considering Google and fb and Alibaba and more are fighting and in the process spending billions to get information from people around the world. When will Papua New Guineans wake up and write our own history, experiences and our aspirations? Why do we let outsiders do it from their reference point and own our stories?

Table 1.0 shows the Provinces and the number of writers/artists who have sent in their literary piece(s).

Provinces (Areas)	Number of Entrants
AROB	3
East New Britain	3
East Sepik	3
Eastern Highlands	4
Fiji	1
Gulf	3
Jiwaka	2
Madang	2
Manus	3
Milne Bay	2
Morobe	5
Mt Hagen	1
NCD	46
No Response	2
Oro	1
Central	1
Simbu	1
West New Britain	3
Western	1
Grand Total	87

There are 8 categories showing here in which entries have been received for. Of these entries two other category winners will be selected from. These are: Emerging Young writer and Women in Writing. The figures in the table clearly show that poetry is the most preferred literary piece to be written and sent in at 53% of the total. It is exciting to see that short stories went over half a century. The VOC will work hard to help the writers/artists of PNG write or illustrate more our experiences, past and our dreams. It is unfortunate that Heritage writing continue to register low levels of entries. One can easily imagine anyone telling a tumbuna story (we have thousands) or describe a cultural experience.

Writing for children is one category; the Crocodile Prize is going to promote more in the next couple of months. We are interested to have more stories for our children so they become readers of our own journey.

VOC will be more available for Essay and Journalism category next year after the Crocodile Prize blog has been upgraded to Premium. There will be more interaction and discussions on the entry pieces sent in.

Table 2.0 shows the number of entries received for the categories in which prizes were secured for 2017.

The 2017 Categories	Number of Entries
Short Play	3
Essays and Journalism	26
FB & NBC Radio Comp	4
Heritage Writing	14
Illustrations	3
Poetry	130
Short Stories	52
Writing for Children	13
Total	245

It is exciting to see that the 60% of the entries came from the economically active population of ages between 21 – 40 years (refer to Pie chart 1.0 below). It is unfortunate that the older population who would have had many experiences and culturally more rooted sent in less this year. It is presumed that those who have resigned or have their careers stalling (11% of the total entries) would find passion somewhere else and writing and illustrating could have been a healthier, productive and meaningful diversion.

Chart 1.0 also gives a good indication on the members of the writing societies whom the VOC will target next year to promote, guide and support and engage in the literature competition. Even if they do not want to participate, their entries or submission can be used to add to the body of knowledge captured for generations to use to understand the evolution of the PNG cultural heritage.

Where to from here:

The process of identifying the winners will take two months. Firstly, the folders will be sent to those who will cull (select what can be judged) from whatever numbers down to 10 entries. The 10 entries will then be sent to the judges who will then select only the top 5 entries. The top 5 entries will lastly be sent to the sponsors who select the winner. We will announce the 5 shortlist at the end of January 2018. The winners will be announced at a Ceremony at the Grand Papua Hotel on the 10^th February 2018. There will be an official gathering where the 2018 Crocodile Prize Competition will also be launched. Stay tuned for the announcements and the winners and the launching.

A burning question to discuss is the participation of women in PNG. Both 2016 and 2017, (under the leadership of Papua New Guineans) have proven beyond doubt the participation of women in writing has gained its foot hold. There are more women sending in entries (55 %) than men folks. The quality and diversity of the entries far outweigh that of men. Women were the youngest of the entrants and the oldest. Last year’s winner of the Paga Hill Foundation Writing for Children Category was a 14 year old girl from Bougainville. Females were more active in asking for information and following the rules and guidelines. The tides have turned and so there must be a category for Boys in writing and Men in writing.

The only issue encountered by the administrative team of the VOC was the lack of respect to the rules and procedures. One of the entrants sent in 23 entries altogether. Clearly this person did ignore the rules or did not bother to ask for clarification. Others continue to send in entries without the entry forms. This may sound like hard work to you as an entrant, but technology has made it so easy. One can literally take a snap shot of the entry from and inbox this through fb messenger or email it in picture format.

The VOC takes pride in our work in one tiny area of literature in PNG. What we are especially proud about is our process on identifying the winner. Our selection and judging process is very stringent. We want to instil integrity into the processes and give an opportunity for the public, sponsors, supporters and participants to believe that we have been transparent and accountable. We want to show and prove that we can be objective and manage wantok system, nepotism and any other possible foul play or conflict of interest.

Otherwise the VOC are privileged to be given the opportunity to lead the Crocodile Prize. The VOC would like to congratulate everyone on their efforts and wish everyone a success in their different endeavours.

Our Sponsors:

Sponsors	Category
Port Moresby Arts Theatre	Best Short Play
PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum	Essays and Journalism
Haltmeier Family	FB & NBC Radio Comp
Cleland family	Heritage Writing
Yet to Announce	Illustrations
Kina Securities	Poetry
Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited	Short Stories
Mineral Resources Development Corporations	Women in Writing
Library for all, Australia	Writing for Children

The Interim Working Committee

Chairman: Emmanuel Peni, (Author, Director – People Centred OD Consult)

Deputy Chair: Joycelin Leahy (Blogger and Author, operating out of Brisbane, Australia)

Other member of the working Committee:

Ruth Moiam, Consultant (World Bank Communications)

Martyn Namorong, (Blogger, National Coordinator – EITI)

Baka Bina, (Supreme Courts – Human Resources)

Gretel Matawan, (Communications, Institute of National Affairs)

Apologies for Silence

Message from the 2017 Volunteer Organising Committee of the Crocodile Prize

Dear everyone

The Volunteer Organising Committee would like to sincerely apologise for the silence we have given to all.

Our Volunteers are putting together the folders (10 altogether) of the entries, and are summarizing all the entries so we can have a comprehensive response as a report to you all.

The folders will go to those who will cull ( select what can be judged) from what ever numbers down to 10 entries. The 10 finalists entries will then be sent to the judges who will select only 5 entries. The 5 entries will go to the sponsors so that the winner can be selected from.

Our selection and judging process is very stringent. We want to instill integrity into the processes and give an opportunity for the public, sponsors, supporters and participants to believe that we have been transparent and accountable. We want to show and prove that we can be objective and manage wantok system, nepotism and any other possible foul play or conflict of interest.

Please bear with us.

We will also publish all the names of all those who sent in entries in the Post Courier next Friday – so look out. On Friday we will also have decisions: on when the finalists will be announced, when the Prize Giving Ceremony will take place and other important information. We will publish these on the news paper too. We initially planned on announcing the winners in December 2017. But this is not feasible anymore. we appologise too for this.

Thank you for your understanding.

We apologise again for the delayed announcement.

Yours sincerely

2017 Volunteer Organising Committee