Barbados announces Love Safely Literary Competition 2024 for Creatives

Barbados is all set to host the 2024 Love Safely Literary Competition for the most talented poets and writers nationwide. The competition will be held online by the National HIV/AIDS Commission.The entries for the Competition opened for the candidates on Tuesday, January 2, 2024. These will remain open till January 22, 2024, at 8 PM sharp. The writings could be in any form, including a Poem or Prose.The Love Safely Literary Competition 2024 competition is open to all candidates who are over 18 years of age. Interested candidates can register for the Competition and submit their writings with some basic information. 

The applicants will submit their writings under the following themes relating to HIV, these include:

• Hope
• Define or Educating on Stigma and Discrimination
• Love
• Rising and Defining Odds
• Compassion and Understanding
• Let Communities lead

Earlier on Wednesday, the Barbados Government Information Services released the official poster for the Competition via their Facebook handle. As per the information, the Competition will comprise many prizes, the 1st position holder will be awarded a grand prize of $ 3,000.00.

The cash prizes for the winners of the Love Safely Literary Competition 2024 are:

• 2nd Prize- $2000.00
• 3rd Prize- $1500.00
• 4th Prize- $1000.00
• 5th Prize- $500.00

In order to be a part of this Competition, the interested applicants have to follow some basic guidelines, as announced. These include:

• Literary writings and work must be submitted in 100-300 words
• The candidates will submit the entries using the given link on the National HIV/AIDS Commissions, #NHAC

Reportedly, the Phase 1 judging will be open on the 27th and 28th, 2024, in which the top 20 pieces will be chosen for the Second Phase 2 of the Competition.These top 20 will be contacted on January 29, 2024, and invited to a performance workshop on February 3, 2024. These candidates will perform in front of the judges on February 10. All these performances will be recorded.Further, the top 5 enlisted candidates will move to the third phase of the Competition, where their recorded performance will be posted to the NHAC’s social media pages on Wednesday, February 14, 2024.The general public will vote for the People’s Choice by liking the relevant post between February 14th and 17th, 2024. People with the most social media votes will receive the People’s Choice Award.The People’s Choice winner and the final positions will be announced on February 18, 2024. The Judges' scores will account for 100% of the last points in stage 2. There will also specifc arrangements will be made for all persons to collect their monetary prizes.Photos with the management of the NHAC are to be taken with the top 5 finalists at the performance recording on February 10, 2024.