Congratulations To All Our 2013 Winners!

The Calistro Prize 2013 winner (middle) Chris Lin, and merit award winners (left) Sue Ann Lee and Michele Chia.

The results are out, and the grand winner of the Calistro Prize 2013 is Chris Lin for his work Colour Crescendo!

Lin completed his manuscript in just five nights, and was “very surprised by how my story ended”. He said that since he didn’t expect to win the prize, he had not prepared an acceptance speech. “But I see this as a great reward for the living the writer’s life so far… and I hope more people will continue to support and encourage Malaysian writers and stories,” he said.

The two Merit Award winners meanwhile are Sue Ann Lee for Gameworld and Michele Chia for The Last Wills and Testaments Of Melody Law – A High School Journal.

We would also like to applaud the two other writers who made it to our shortlist; Bathmaloshanee Muniandy for Anya’s Angasana and Ninot Aziz for Siti, The Queen Regnant.

A special thank you to the prize’s generous benefactor Dr David Kirkham for flying down specially for the awards ceremony on Jan 18 at the Kuala Lumpur Library!

(L-R) Lim Lay Har and Lim Lay Koon holding up their freshly published book, ‘A Master and An Apprentice’

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In another exciting development, the awards ceremony also saw the launch of our 2012 winning manuscript,  A Master and An Apprentice!

Written by Lim Lay Har and illustrated by Lim Lay Koon, A Master and An Apprentice is a humorous tale about an expert kuih lapis maker who tries in vain to get his son to take over the family business. The son meanwhile, is more interested in modern baking and wants his father to move along with the times. In jest, the son challenges his father to a cooking contest – if the father wins, the son will carry on the family business. What to know what happens next? Grab a copy of the book!

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A big thank you  to all the writers who chose to launch their books and share their work at our mini-festival held alongside the awards ceremony; our workshop facilitators; the creative vendors with their amazing wares; and of course, all of you who came along to make it a great day of celebrating local writing.

Do drop by our Facebook page as we update it with more pictures of what went down at the awards ceremony. Stay tuned as well for the judge’s comments on our winners, as well as details of the 2014 competition!

Almost there!

It’s almost here – the announcement of the 2013 Calistro Prize winners!

Just a quick update; roads around Dataran Merdeka will be closed on Saturday except for Jalan Raja Laut (from Masjid Negara towards Dataran Merdeka) because of the OCBC Cycle Malaysia event. Aside from parking spaces right in front of KL Library, the nearest parking spot will be at Daya Bumi. Take the LRT if you can though, and just get off at Masjid Jamek!

Here’s our updated schedule for the day as well:

CALISTRO PRIZE 2013 AWARDS CEREMONY | 11AM – 12PM
The official announcement of the 2013 winners!

BOOK LAUNCH OF THE CALISTRO PRIZE 2012 WINNER | 12PM – 12:15PM

MYANMAR: CUISINE, CULTURE & CUSTOMS | 12:15PM – 12:30PM Award-winning culinary writer Mohana Gill will be launching her latest book “Myanmar: Cuisine, Culture & Customs”

GAZA WRITES BACK | 12:30PM – 1PM
A book launch and presentation by Refaat Alareer on his book “Gaza Writes Back”, a collection of short stories written by writers living in Gaza, Palestine.

READINGS@CALISTRO | 2PM – 3:30PM
The popular Readings series makes a special appearance at our mini-festival! The line-up includes poets and writers from Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and Palestine, among them:

Norma Hashim
Refaat Alareer
Nicole Idar
Marc Nair
Scott Sneddon
Deborah Emmanuel
Shivram Gopinath

CONCURRENT TALKS AND WORKSHOPS | 3:30PM – 5PM

1) Healthy Food
Award-winning culinary writer Mohana Gill will run a special demonstration for children and parents on how to prepare healthy cuisine.

2) Poetry Writing Workshop for Teens
Targeted at teens (13 to 18-years-old), creative writing teacher Sharon Bakar will take participants through the mechanics of writing poetry.

3) The Art of Illustrating A Story
Curious about how writers and illustrators work together to create picture books? Join illustrator Tan Vay Fern as she shares her perspective on the process in this talk.

4) How To Write A Young Adult Novel in 7 Days
A fun workshop by writer Ean on the mechanics of writing work aimed at teenagers.

*Admission is free by invitation or registration on a first come first served basis. Just drop us an email at calistroprize@gmail.com or send a message with your name and contact number to either Ean (016 255 4503) or Norma (012 222 1222)

See you there!

One week to the awards!

Just seven more days to our official announcement of the Calistro Prize 2013 winners on 18th January, 2014 at the Kuala Lumpur Library at Jalan Raja, Kuala Lumpur!

While we wait, you may like to get reacquainted with our mission of encouraging the creation of good Malaysian stories by reading an interview with our founder Dr David Kirkham here, or listening an interview with our 2013 organising committee member Daphne Lee here.

If you have not checked out the other activities we have planned for the day alongside the awards ceremony, here’s the schedule so far:

SALE OF BOOKS/ BAGS/ ZINES | 10AM – 5PM

CALISTRO PRIZE 2013 AWARDS CEREMONY | 11AM – 12PM
The official announcement of the 2013 winners!

BOOK LAUNCH OF THE CALISTRO PRIZE 2012 WINNER | 12PM – 12:30PM

GAZA WRITES BACK | 12:30PM – 1PM
A book launch and presentation by Refaat Alareer on his book “Gaza Writes Back”, a collection of short stories written by writers living in Gaza, Palestine.

READINGS@CALISTRO | 2PM – 3PM
The popular Readings series makes a special appearance at our mini-festival – stay tuned for updates of the performers and writers who will take the stage!

CONCURRENT TALKS AND WORKSHOPS | 3PM – 5PM

1) Healthy Food
A talk and demonstration on healthy cooking by award-winning culinary writer Mohana Gill.

2) Poetry Writing Workshop for Teens
Targeted at teens (13 to 18-years-old), creative writing teacher Sharon Bakar will take participants through the mechanics of writing poetry.

3) The Art of Illustrating A Story
Curious about how writers and illustrators work together to create picture books? Join illustrator Tan Vay Fern as she shares her perspective on the process in this talk.

Admission is free via registration – to do so, email us at calistroprize@gmail.com or or send a message with your name and contact number to either Ean (016 255 4503) or Norma (012 222 1222).

For more updates on the events, go to our Facebook page or click here: https://www.facebook.com/events/592856097454131/?ref=22.

Hope you can join us!

Announcing this year’s judges!

The judging process for the Calistro Prize 2013 is now underway! 

Our lovely judges, selected for their love of children’s and YA books, are Suzanne Lazaroo, Marisa Repin and Animah Kosai. To read a bit more about them, check out our judge’s page here.

 

Thank you for your stories!

Thank you to all those who participated in the Calistro Prize 2013! 

The judging process will start soon, and we look forward to reading your work!

Every entry will be read by the judges. Stories will be judged based on content, originality and overall readability, with an emphasis on creativity. 

The judges’ decision is final and the Calistro Prize committee will not enter into any correspondence about the shortlist or the winners.

The judges reserve the right to decide not to select a shortlist or winners if the level of the entries is not up to international publishing industry standards. 

Any entry not conforming to the guidelines will be disqualified without author notification.

If you are shortlisted, we will let you know via email on or before 30th November, 2013. The prize winners meanwhile, will be notified by email on or before 31st December, 2013.

Good luck to everyone, and watch this space for more details on who our judges are!