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”.

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

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.

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’.

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 10th 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

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.

 

 

 

 

2016 Heritage Category Shortlist

A winner will receive K5000 next Thursday (February 16) for the Cleland Family Heritage Prize in the 2016 Crocodile Prize Competition. Below are the three finalists of the 2016 Crocodile Prize Heritage Competition: Ketar Natis, Killings and Two Grieving Kinsmen by Theresa Gizoria; The Disappearance of Gambu by Julie Sugoho and Christina’s History by Talitha Kove.The K5000 winner is one of the three listed here. There were 26 entries for the Cleland Family Heritage Writing Category.
The 2016 Crocodile Prize Organizing Committee would like to congratulate all those who submitted their entries and sincerely thank the sponsor, Cleland Family. The Cleland family has been sponsoring the Competition since 2012.

Many of you may have heard of the famous Sir Donald Cleland Pool ( Taurama Swimming Pool/ Taurama Leisure Centre) in Port Moresby which has recently been turned into an international sports and recreational center. This recreation and sports centre was named after Sir Donald Cleland, the father of Bob Cleland who has been part of the Crocodile Prize for many years and has always supported the voluntary committee.

Sir Donald Mackinnon Cleland (1901-1975), soldier and administrator, was born on 28 June 1901 at Coolgardie, Western Australia, eldest son of Adelaide-born Elphinstone Davenport Cleland, mine-manager, and his second wife Anne Emily, née Mackinnon, from Scotland. Sir Cleland arrived in PNG as a Brigadier in the Army and assumed several other posts when PNG was colonised. After his term, he chose to live in Port Moresby and became very active in many civic activities. One was as a lecturer at the University of Papua New Guinea. For more information about Cleland please click on the link – here

Heritage is defined as property that is or maybe inherited, as an inheritance. Archaic: special or individual possession, an allotted partition. The Love of your grandmother or your love for your home remains your heritage. Heritage is a collection of features and characteristics belonging to the culture of a particular society. These features have a historical significance such as found in language, traditional practices, religion, buildings and totems.

The Heritage Category is of great importance to PNG. The committee wants more heritage entries in 2017 competition. PNG has a third of the world’s languages and is blessed with numerous unique cultures and traditions. There are many stories to be told.
The committee and the judges would like to emphasise that we need to hear more of these stories.

Congratulations once again to the writers who captured our heritage in their excellent literacy pieces. These entries gave imagery accounts of our heritage and the scenes created by the writers were like a view through a kaleidoscope. The entries addressed; changing physical/social geographies, origins of names of geographical locations, plants and animals, historical perspectives, traditional and cultural practices, biodiversity, the effects of climate change, and mystical and legendary gods that form our truly unique culture.

-Chairman Emmanuel Peni.

 

Message From Chairman

Greetings everyone, and welcome back to the Crocodile Prize Blog and Home.

We are excited to launch The Crocodile Prize Competition 2017, but not just yet.

Before we launch, we will announce the 2016 Competition winners. The official Crocodile Prize 2016 Award Ceremony will be held on the 16^th of February at the Australian High Commission Grounds, Port Moresby, NCD.

We are excited that we were able to select the winners using a very rigorous and a transparent process of culling and then judging. We believe our highlight for 2016 would have been institutionalising INTEGRITY into our systems and process of administering the Crocodile Prize in Papua New Guinea. Having registered a legal entity to operate under gives Crocodile Prize a strong platform to stand on for future years. The committee has also secured two major sponsors, Kina (K10,000) and SP Holdings (K10,000) and we have introduced “Emerging Young Writer Award”, sponsored by Abt & Associate. You will also be pleased to know that we will have three prize winners from each category – not just one.  As of today, we have all the winners identified from the eight categories.  The categories and their sponsors are:

Kina –Poetry

SP Holdings Ltd – Illustrations

Abt and Associate-Emerging Young Writer

PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum – Essay and Journalism

Kumul Petroleum Holding – Short Stories

Paga Hill Development – Writing for Children

Cleland Family – Heritage Writing

MRDC –Women in Writing

We will start announcing the Short Story winners tomorrow and will continue with all the categories each day on this blog. All winners will be contacted directly by the committee.

Next week, Crocodile Prize representatives will be on the NBC radio to talk about the the competition.  Please tune in to listen to winners, judges and committee members speak about the 2016 competition and this year’s launching.

We would like to sincerely thank all our sponsors for their support.

Thank you writers and friends of Crocodile Prize.  Let’s make 2017 a big year. Write those stories!  – Chairman, Emmanuel Peni.