Caption: Winner of
the People’s award for Short Stories Agnes Maineke posing with family members
and Australian High Commissioner Deborah Stokes.
By MATTHEW VARI
THE message was loud and clear by various speakers to those that attended the 2014 Crocodile Prize awards ceremony hosted by the Australian High Commission last week.
Initiated by Keith Jackson and Phil Fitzpatrick in 2011- the literary competition looks to encourage literary writing for Papua New Guineans, all of which are then published in an anthology (collection of literary works) that was also launched on the night.
Awards are then given in seven categories of Buk Blong Pikinini Award for Children’s Writing, Kina Securities Award for Poetry, PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum Award for Essays and Journalism, Ok Tedi Minig Award for the Book of the Year, Cleland Family Award for Heritage Writing, People’s Award for Short Stories, and the Ok Tedi Mining Award for Lifetime Contribution to PNG Literature.
Speaking to the winners, participants and those that attended, Australian High Commissioner Deborah said that there were 600 entries into the competition from 130 writers, who were from 21 provinces.
“This is a remarkable achievement and is an indication that the prize continues to grow even more into the years,” Ms Stokes said
“The 500 page anthology lauched also and we hope it will encourage many other Papua New Guineans who struggle to find avenues to publish their work about Papua New Guinea.”
“The stories that are passed down from one generation to another help preserve PNG’s rich history and culture and continue to be of great value today.”
Guest and contributor to the anthology Oro Governor Gary Juffa pointed out that the plight of traditional being lost in the country was one that needed to be seriously addressed.
“History is not only managed by those with wealth but by those who can write- and each and everyday in Papua New Guinea when someone with a wealth of information passes away it is like a library being burnt down,” Governor Juffa said.
“I would like to say that with the technology we have, there is a lot opportunity, because as we speak entire cultures with information that are being lost on a daily basis.”
“I am thinking of proposing something to the government for us to seriously take stock of our cultures.”
Co-founder of the awards, Phil Fitzpatrick said that the 2014 competition was by far the most successful they had done, crediting all the writing for the quality of their work which he added was truly Papua New Guinean in style.
“One of the enjoyable aspects in editing the works is reading each and every one of the entries,” Fitzpatrick said.
“I was amazed at the quality of the content of work and it uniqueness, and one of the important aspect of PNG literature that has been missing for a long time is the use of true PNG English, not American nor Australian English, which is an important factor to some of the country’s greatest works.”
The Children’s Writing went to Iriana Wanma, Poetry Diddie Kinamun Jackson, Essays and Journalism Kela Kapkora Sil Bolkin, Book of the Year to Leonard Roka Fong, Heritage Writing went to Arnold Mundua, Short Stories Agnes Maineke, and Sir Paulias Matane the Lifetime Contribution to PNG Literature award.
The night also saw the announcements of sponsorships for the annual awards from the Minister for National Planning Chales Abel with K10,000, Governor Gary Juffa K10,000, and also the Tourism Arts and Culture Minister’s announcement of a new awards category for the 2015 awards which is to be held in Kainanatu.
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