FNL Writing Competition on Forgiveness

This contest has a Christian slant to it. Interested? Dive in!

11 Corinthians 5 18 -21 “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself  through Christ and gave us the ministry of RECONCILIATION  that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us, We implore you on Christ behalf: be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”. (NIV translation)

Why?

By the wondrous mercies of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, on the 5th of September 2012, I   Dr. Abimbola Oyindamola, Odumosu, nee Denloye, will turn 60. How time flies?? I can still remember my 12th Birthday party in Mary Hill Convent School in Ibadan and a lot more!!! I give the Lord thanks, for this journey has been like every journey of life a pathway of hills and valleys but through it all the Lord has given me victory upon  victory and lots of JOY, in my families (Odumosu & Denloye) and career.

At an early stage of my life my mother, Omotunde, Nelly Denloye (Nee Nottidge)  taught me and my siblings the art of forgiveness, by the way she lived her life. She lived a life of continuous forgiveness on a daily basis. I well recall a time when a friend hurt me badly and the friend was having a party and I vouched not to attend and to cut the friend off, my mother’s response is “this friend a Christian?” and I replied in the negative and then, she said why are you expecting her to behave better than she has done, just forgive her, and love her. She taught me to lower my expectations from friends and families and be more ready to forgive and apologise, and move on.  As you guessed, I forgave the friend, bought her a present and attended the party, though grudgingly in obedience to my mother. I can recount countless other stories but will stop here. Her favourite word to us her children in Yoruba is “Iyen lo ma se ti o ma fi jun won lo.” Her charge to us was for us to walk a higher path, to demonstrate that you are above pettiness in life. She taught us to harness the power of hurt, turn it into love and walk a higher level. All my brothers and sisters know exactly what I am talking about. She often reminded me of the likes of Martin Luther King.  My mother loved everybody freely AND above all,  demonstrated  the power OF FORGIVENESS BY FREELY FORGIVEN THE MANY WHO HURT HER AND she taught all of her children  to do the same thing. As such, I have decided to honour  the life she gave me and her other children by sponsoring the following activities on the theme of forgiveness. 

RULES

• Candidates must be under 35 yrs. of age. 
• No entry fee is required.
• All entries must be original works, in English. Plagiarism, which includes the use of third-party poetry, song lyrics, characters or another person's ideas, without written permission or proper acknowledgment will result in disqualification.
• Entries may not have been previously published in professional media.
• Poetry must not be more than 30 lines.
• Entries must be submitted electronically.
• All entries must be double spaced, with numbered pages.
• Each entry must have a cover page with the title of the work, the author's name, a short bio of the author,   full mailing address, telephone number and email address. Every subsequent page must carry the title and a page number, but NOT the author's name (to facilitate fair judging).
• Each entrant may submit up to three poems.

Essay Writing 

• Rules  1- 4 and 8 above applies in addition to the following ones:-
• The story writing must be a true story of not more than 2 pages
• All entries are final. No revisions are accepted.
• The decisions of the judges are entirely their own, and are final. 
• Five of the stories, will be chosen for display on the day of the play as posters.
• Winners will be individually notified of the results by email. 

Closing Date for submission:  30TH  OF SEPTEMBER 2012. 

All entries should be submitted to Syreeta Ufeli by email: syreetastone@yahoo.com

The Prizes

Poetry:

First Prize:  1 Kindle and 100 US dollars  

Second Prize:  1 kindle and 50 US dollars  

Third Prize:  1 Kindle 

Story: 

All the persons whose stories are chosen for display will receive a gift of 100 US dollars each.