“Tell Your Story” Competition for Young Roma from Serbia

The Competition is organized by Sporting Hearts Children’s Charity from Ireland in cooperation with Roma Education Fund (REF) and European Roma Institute for Art and Culture (ERIAC)

It is said we all have a story to tell. Some may be stories of love and disappointment, some are tales of adventure, bravery, others may be an internal dialogue that wrestles with the meaning of life. Whatever your story is we want to hear it, we want to publish it and we want the world read it.

Enter your story now!

The purpose of the competition is to encourage young Roma, especially girls, to write and have their stories heard and published because Roma voice needs to be heard. Both from young men and women. Female stories will enrich the book with their unique and diverse experience.

The topics: anything you want the world to know about!

  1. To be eligible to enter this competition, the entrant must be 15-30 years old (on or before the competition closing date), and must be  a resident  of Serbia, or, if living abroad, hold an Serbian passport. Proof of nationality and/or residency may be requested of shortlisted writers.

The age groups are the following: 15-18, 18-25 and 25-30 years of age.

2. Only two entries  per person is permitted.

3. Entries, in Serbian must be original, fictional and entirely your own work; (ii) not infringe the copyright or any other rights of any third party; (iii) not be defamatory of any person or corporate body; and (iv) not be under consideration elsewhere for the duration of this competition’s judging process, up to the announcement of the shortlist in March 2024, and not have been previously broadcast or published, including online.

4. Your story’s word count must fall between 1000 and 2000 words, excluding the title. Shortlisted stories will be , published and broadcast exactly as submitted beyond obvious typographical errors, without any opportunity for further revision from you. So only submit your story when you are satisfied it is free from errors.

5. The competition is judged anonymously, so to avoid disqualification you must ensure that your name does not appear anywhere on your story itself, but only on the postal form or online entry form where requested.

6. You can enter the competition by email or by post.

Formatting and requirements

Postal entries should be typed, double-spaced on one side only of A4 paper, with pages numbered, laid out in such a way that no sentence runs over from one page to the next.

Postal entries must be accompanied by an entry form which you can downloaded at www.sportinghearts.org. Or, to receive a printed entry form in the post, email: info@Sportinghearts.org.

Entries can be sent by the following:

1. via email at:

– jelenabojic1979@gmail.com

2. via post at:

Fondacija za obrazovanje Roma

Majke Jevrosime 51, 11000 Beograd

In case of any questions, please contact: Jelena Bojić Lutiger at 069 635 342. 

Stories can also be recorded (on any recording device) or told directly to the staff at REF or ERIAC offices at the addresses below during their working hours Monday-Friday, 9-17h. These can be sent to the SH by post or left at the REF or ERIAC.

You should retain a copy of your entry as Sporting Hearts cannot return scripts. Sporting Hearts will only ever use personal details for the purposes of the competition.

7. The opening date is August 15th 2024. The closing date is Friday 27th December 2024. Postal entries received by us up to and including that date will be accepted. The deadline for online entries is midnight on Friday 27th December 2024. This is a strict deadline; no exceptions will be made. Entries successfully submitted online will receive an automated acknowledgement to the email address provided. Sporting Hearts will not acknowledge receipt of postal entries and does not accept any responsibility for late, lost or damaged entries. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt.

8. The judges’ decision is final and Sporting Harts will not enter into correspondence concerning any entry.

9. By submitting an entry for the competition, you hereby acknowledge and agree that any shortlisted entrees may be read out and reproduced and broadcast (in whole or in part) and other third party platforms.

You also acknowledge that the shortlisted entries may be used by Sporting hearts[U1]   for publicity purposes around the competition and published in full or as an extract in print or online (including without limitation the Sporting Hearts website and other third party platforms). Entry to the competition constitutes acceptance of these terms. By submitting a story, you agree that in the event of being shortlisted  you will consent to Sporting Hearts identifying you as the author for publicity purposes to promote the competition.

10. Successful writers with a previous publication history are not eligible to enter the competition as the main purpose of this competition is to encourage new female writers of Roma decent.                                                                                                                                                                          

11. All 10 successful stories will be published and the authors will receive book token to the value of 50 Euro.

12. You acknowledge and agree that to the extent permitted by law, Sporting Hearts will not be liable for any loss or damage (whether such damage or losses were foreseen, foreseeable, known or otherwise) including financial and/or reputation and/or disappointment, suffered by you for entering the competition or as a result of your story being a winning entry.

ENTRY FORMS and RULES HERE

Best of Luck!