| – Entrants had difficulty in making submissionsAs the drama continues to unfold at the University of Guyana, the deadline for the Guyana Prize for Literature has been pushed back due to the ongoing industrial action.Al CreightonThis is according to Al Creighton, the Secretary and Administrator to the board on the Guyana Prize for Literature Award.The news of the deadline comes exactly a month after Creighton defended the previous February 28 deadline for the Guyana Prize.Creighton yesterday confirmed to this newspaper that the deadline had been shifted from the last day of February to April 7.He explained that the deadline had initially been set in May, but this date was shifted due to the impending General and Regional elections. He said the date was then shifted to February 28. However,Cheap Jerseys Free, he said, “the problems at UG made it difficult for persons to actually go on the campus to take in their entries.”Creighton said the board had received a number of complaints from entrants indicating their difficulty in making submissions.“We decided to just clear all of that and move the date back,” he added.Ruel JohnsonWhen questioned on why the board had decided to shift the date rather than the location for submissions,NFL Jerseys China Wholesale, Creighton said that solution would have been more difficult. He opined that a location would have had to be selected then appropriately advertised.“It was easier to shift the date; the shifting of the location would have had too many logistical issues,” Creighton said.Furthermore,Wholesale Jerseys China, Creighton said a conflict with the judges’ schedules still existed but was being resolved.“We’ve taken into consideration the judges’ schedules, but at this point that can be negotiated,” Creighton said. He continued, “We also have to negotiate how and when the judges will meet.”He explained that the meeting dates had been previously “locked in” but with the shift in submission date these meeting dates would also have to be readjusted. He added that all planned events, such as the date of the ceremony, would also have to be shifted.“All of these things have been affected, but we were pushed to change the date because of the difficulties the entrants were experiencing,” Creighton said.Meanwhile, Creighton explained that though entries had already been made, he could not say exactly how many submissions had been made to date. He further said he had received indications from other persons of submissions.Workshops are also slated to continue beyond the date of submission,Jerseys From China, Creighton said. He explained that there had been three workshops so far and these would continue later in the year.“Even after the closing date we would have workshops; the idea was always that workshops would continue later in the year despite the closing date for entries,” he said. He further noted previous calls to have the deadline extended. He said writers should be continuously writing and not simply when the Guyana Prize had been advertised.“Our idea is not that we advertise the Guyana Prize then people would see the ad and start writing; the idea is that there are writers who are basically writing all the time and, when the time comes for the prize,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, they will enter what they have,” Creighton said.Meanwhile,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, two-time winner of the Guyana Prize Ruel Johnson deemed Creighton’s explanation of the deadline’s extension as “ridiculous”. Nonetheless, Johnson said he welcomed the decision and emphasised that it was a necessary one. He further urged both the writers and the prize’s organisers to use the time to better the Guyana Prize.Johnson also pointed out some issues that needed fixing including the improvement of the workshops currently being offered. He said these workshops should be on a national scale and not just limited to Georgetown. He noted that the University of Guyana has a campus in Berbice and this, he said, should be used to the prize’s advantage.“These workshops need to be geographically equitable,” Johnson emphasised. He also said corporate partnerships should be sought to improve the prize.He further said the prize should be better promoted, particularly amongst university students in Guyana. According to the writer, neither he nor any other local winner of the prize had ever been invited to the university to speak or give lectures on what it takes to write for the Guyana Prize.Since the announcement of the Guyana Prize’s deadline, Johnson had been vociferous about the deadline and had called on numerous occasions for an extension. Johnson had opined that the time frame for preparation is simply too short. This preparation time, he said, is inadequate, especially for those who are unfamiliar with the actual workings of the prize, in order to submit work that can actually compete.Creighton’s explanation comes as the University of Guyana is in its fifth week of industrial action over wage negotiations between the UG administration and its staff. |
