@Safia, Go ahead and write just do as the rules say, that is, write about high school life in Nigeria. If you have no idea about it, you can do some research, even here on Nairaland. Whatever you do, just follow the rules on the front page.

Hi Stephen:  Can I please pick your brain some more for minor details regarding the contest?  Can I send you my e-mail or would you mind sending me yours, now? In the event that I'm not able to reach you or you choose not to respond, thanks. Safia

@Safia: you're welcome to participate. It will be a challenge, but it should also be fun for you.

@tuneh: your story is just 696 words long. That's less than 10% of 7500. So feel free to fill it in!

What up Seun  ? Thanks for the encouragement!  I know I'm going to love writing the short story! I simply enjoy writing and the research involved.  The money would be a bonus because I love writing and often wrote articles for our college newspaper.  If I win I will post it on our web media site and send an article to our college press and local paper. 
     I know it would have been better to just google it, but because some our readers of Nairaland may not be familiar with the currency exchange; how much is 25,000 nair when exchanged into the American dollar 
     Thank you again,
     Safia
P.S.  I'm looking for a chat pal  any males (30-40) interested feel free to reply!

Can anyone answer the question regarding how much 25,000 Naira is when exchanged to American dollars? Thank you in advance, Safia.

Hello Seun, brand new member of Nairaland. Must say i feel like i've swallowed the blue pill and opened Pandora's box and swallowed half a bottle of Gavisicon to quell by churning stomach. Which is good. I think your competition is a great idea. A lot of Nollywood films are so formulaic, they're almost cringe worthy. They are so many great stories to tell about Nigeria, that i've always wondered why no marketer, producer or Director has ever taken the risk and done an "outside the box" story.

Having said that though, i think N25,000.00 is quite a low sum (with current inflation rates) for an original story, that will possibly become the basis of a screenplay. Writing a story is a very insular,consuming and emotional process, which is frequently overlooked in the bigger picture. It's nice that your doing a competition to help promote and support it, but i think you can offer more of a kitty to the successful writer and keep the N25,000.00 as a 3rd prize or something.

For example, most stories for screenplays need at least 2 good plot points to keep everyone interested and help with pacing.
Why don't you get people to submit tag-lines or very brief summaries of their stories, then commission the story that interests you the most.

I'll give you mine for free: Boy enters secondary boarding school at 10years old. Makes friends and feels comfortable. Discovers the he might be gay. Starts a confused relationship with another older, more experienced boy, whose dad is a politician. Older boy gets caught molesting another boy by a pedophile teacher. Agrees to give up/set up new friend for clemency and lack of exposure to his dad.

10 year old is set up and nearly raped. Manages to escape and elopes from school. Confesses all to his parents. Parents (who are considerably influential themselves), speak to School principal. Principal says he is powerless unless the teacher is caught in the act, will 10 year old turn the tables and set him up,  10 year old agrees and sets up the teacher, things go a bit awry, but the teacher falls for the bait and is caught. Older boy is expelled from the school. 10 year old, still very confused is withdrawn from the school by his parents. The last we see is him looking at the school gates through the rear window of his parents car as it drives away, the end.

Just made that up now, but it gives you an idea of what i mean

Thanks for explaining about the dollar value of the nair vs dollar Olanajim and advising the use of an American calculator to transmit the nair into dollar value .

Although your story may be of interest and it is depressing to say the least. Maybe a story that inspires hope would be better, quickly device another Obinodmx. ~ Safia

Lol, i know, my stories tend to be a bit dark, but i followed the guidelines. I guess naija isn't ready for those type of stories yet.

Something lighter
Talented 10 year old joins her schools cultural society and auditions to sing for a big show they are organizing. Is eventually shortlisted to join the choir, but tragically get's dropped the day before the event because there are too many people performing.

She is devastated. She has always considered herself very ordinary and unpopular, but being in the choir and rehearsing had made her one of the cool kids, made her feel like she had purpose. She had really enjoyed it.

She goes back to her normal boring life and as if things can't get any worse, she doesn't leave the dining room in time , so all the seniors give her their plates to wash and theres no water running from the taps.

Utterly depressed, she sits outside the dining hall and cries, still holding the dirty plates. Amazingly, the School principal happens to be doing a routine tour and passes. Noticing her crying, she kindly takes her back to her house, gets the steward to wash the plates and asks her whats the matter. 10 year old gushes out telling her the whole story. Principal listens and tells her to believe in herself and if she doesn't suceed, try, try again. They will always be other shows and she shouldn't feel she was only popular because she was in the choir. Maybe she was popular because people were getting to meet her and see what she was really like.

Now even more determined, she keeps practising and rehearsing with the choir and discovers that she is really good at harmony. A year later, when the next cultural society performance comes up, not only does she perform, but her talent helps her school win the tournament for the 1st time in 15years.
She is now the most popular girl in school. The End

All right, you go obinodmx! I bet you can write a story with your eyes closed.  ~ Safia

Safia:

Hi Stephen:  Can I please pick your brain some more for minor details regarding the contest?  Can I send you my e-mail or would you mind sending me yours, now? In the event that I'm not able to reach you or you choose not to respond, thanks. Safia

I don't do email. If you've got anything to say go ahead and post it. Eventually, I'll read it and respond. By the way, all the information you need is on the first pages and subsequent pages of this thread but if you've still got any questions, ask Seun, he's the person in charge of this competition and he's the one giving out the money.

Safia:

Can anyone answer the question regarding how much 25,000 Naira is when exchanged to American dollars? Thank you in advance, Safia.

You know you can just google it right? Anyway, presently, the exchange rate is $1=N117.90 so N25000~$212

i think it is very good for us i would like to play the game oh provided no, be fake
[b][/b]i must win

obinodmx :
Why don't you get people to submit tag-lines or very brief summaries
of their stories, then commission the story that interests you the most.

Excellent idea. Unfortunately, the person with the best story idea isn't always the best writer. Technically, you can submit the story summaries you posted above to the current competition, since they are more than 75 words long. I doubt that they'll be selected over fully developed stories, though.

The most promising entries I've received so far were sent to me by tundeh and newdeal. tundeh's story has a neat concept and structure, but at under 700 words, needs a lot of development. newdeal's 4000 word story is the exact opposite, it gives me a lot of material to work with, but it reads like a random collection of short stories that happen to take place in the same school.

sisqology didn't really understand what I meant by a "cinematic" story, but I've pointed some things out and I'm waiting for his/her second entry. ossy4rill submitted part 1 of a 2 part story. My co-judge feels the story is too Nollywoodish, but I'm still waiting for part 2. The first entry I got was from a non-writer; I enjoyed reading it but I can't use it. I also got a story outline that I felt wasn't a story at all - nothing interesting happened in it.

hmmm, interesting reply seun, but i think you should be a bit more precise with the guidelines for your story. I'll explain.I write stories, screenplays and teleplays as well. Normally, some indication is given, of what type of project the director wants to make, usually dependent on Budget. There are too many stories that can be based on the Nigerian High School experience. The spectrum is too large.
You already know what sort of budget you have to work with, so you need to focus the writers by telling them what sort of story your looking for, that your finances will allow.

For eg. If i wrote a very exciting story about a goat, that gets transformed into a school kid by a witch doctor posing as a teacher, to perform evil tasks for him, but then grows a conscience and with the help of his new friends, decides to turn against his master and expose him, even at the risk of losing his human form. You might like the story, but immediately dismiss it, because it will require special effects and your budget doesn't allow for that.
I think if you say, i want a story about the high school experience in the category of thriller/romance/action adventure/horror e.t.c. then the writers can be more focused on what to deliver
What do you think?

If i wrote a very exciting story about a goat, that gets transformed into a school kid by a witch doctor posing as a teacher, to perform evil tasks for him, but then grows a conscience and with the help of his new friends, decides to turn against his master and expose him, even at the risk of losing his human form. You might like the story, but immediately dismiss it, because it will require special effects and your budget doesn't allow for that.

You have a point, but I would buy that story if well told. Shape-shifting is very easy to simulate.

I think if you say, i want a story about the high school experience in the category of thriller/romance/action adventure/horror e.t.c. then the writers can be more focused on what to deliver

I think I would be interested in an excellent story in any genre, provided it's suitable for high school students. I don't want any good writer to opt out of the contest because "I only write stories in this other genre".

Oga Admin,
glad you find my entry promising. Obinodmx made a valid point though; the spectrum is simply too large! a typical secondary school is simply a world of its own. At a point, that story ran out of my grips because there are so many events to pick from, many of which i could not even include in the story:
desperate parents trying to influence [albeit fraudulently] their wards' termly results, education officials and their arm-twisting tactics, the unseen forces that undermine WAEC/NECO/NABTEB examinations, mischievous students collecting a sum of money from illiterate parents to buy [b]'CHIKE' [/b]and another sum to buy [b]'AND THE RIVER', [/b]on and on and on.

Next time, more details will help. Like the man who goes to a tailors shop, you need to specify the kind of material you want, the colour the texture, the style and fittings you want and above all, the tailor will need your measurements to come out with what suits you!

@newdeal: obviously, I am not to blame for your story's lack of focus, if any!

Some are saying the guidelines are too restrictive, others are saying I'm not specific enough.
Guys, there's nothing wrong with the contest. Just pick up your pens and start writing.

@ seun
the first comment i saw was the one you highlighted and i was like; shoo! we dey kwarel?
I hope you get what you are looking for though, its a laudable venture hence my participation.

And I appreciate your participation very much. Thanks a million.

u guys are a bunch of bananas, why can't u just write the story and stop saying shit that doesn't really have any depth or insight to it, in my opinion, i think Seun is out to help u guys discover urself and there y are crying foul, pls, pls, pls, leave the man and start typing isnsead, type a truelife story of all ur misdeeds when u were in ur secondary school, im sure that will make a good comedy,

taibatfash:

u guys are a bunch of bananas, why can't u just write the story and stop saying shit that doesn't really have any depth or insight to it, in my opinion, i think Seun is out to help u guys discover yourself and there y are crying foul, please, please, please, leave the man and start typing isnsead, type a truelife story of all your misdeeds when u were in your secondary school, im sure that will make a good comedy,

It's too late to get mad. As Sisi correctly pointed out, two more days and the contest would be over!

I guess you don't have to be in chain to be a salve
A million Naira story for just 25 000 Naira ,

I'm putting my best for this short story and I belive that I will win the price. Please, Seun dont play on nairalander's intelligencies as God may be severe aboutr that.
Wish you the best in your new endeavours.

Hi, i ought to have replied long ago but i've been quite busy. I'm writing my exams in my uni where i'm running my course. This shouldn't pass me by even though i ain't used to writing for secordary schools. let me see atleast, the little i can write.

Cheers

@Tosbi: You actually sent me a story today. Did you just write it? It's incomplete, though.

@Sisikill and StephenP: Your stories are very much anticipated. How come I'm yet to get them?

@Seun
I'm so sorry 4 dat. I will b4 then. Tanks

I have sent the completed story right now.

Seun how many entries did u get for the short story contest?

I've got about 5 serious entries so far, and today is the last day. I got another 5 less serious entries.

is it a must for a winner to emerge?

Hi Seun, I just submitted my completed story. It's still less than 7500, far less in fact but there's closure at the end. I'm flattered that you like my writing. I hope even if I don't get picked we might work together in future? I'm also an aspiring film maker with special interest in directing and script writing

tuneh

Oga Seun, I pray u find interesting one which will raise u up as u plan.
When are u announcing the winner?



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