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Creative Writing and Digital Experiments Competition “Nomad 2023: A Living Land”

The organizers of “Nomad 2023: A Living Land” festival invite writers/artists/creatives aged over 18 living in Central Asia and beyond to enter our inaugural Creative Writing and Digital Experiments Competition. 

We are looking for fresh ideas from emerging talents with a passion for producing experimental creative prose or poetry for digital audiences. Submissions must present or perform original written or spoken text combined with one or more other media such as video art, photography, music, and animation. Submissions should between 5 and 15 minutes in length, and suitable for presentation or performance during the Festival. Works in languages other than English should contain English subtitles. Digital experiments may also go beyond prose and poetry to include, but not limited to, digital performance, digital storytelling, data visualisation and multimedia reels in connection with the overall theme of the Festival.  

Submissions should between 5 and 15 minutes in length, and suitable for presentation or performance during the Festival. Works in languages other than English should contain English subtitles. 

The Competition will be curated and administered by the Communications and Media Department, School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Central Asia and the winners announced at the festival in September 2023.

The awards will be as follows:

  • Overall, most outstanding creative work - US$500
  • Most promising writer - US$300
  • Jury award for best work which has most skillfully addressed the competition theme - US$200
  • All winning entrants to be published in yellowspace.art 

Important Dates:

  • Submission deadline: Midnight August 18, 2023
  • Notification date: August 31, 2023
  • Event Date: September 21-23, 2023

Enter the Competition

Terms and Conditions

By submitting to the Creative Writing/Digital Experiments Competition “Nomad 2023: A Living Land”, the participants acknowledge understanding and agreeing to the Festival Rules, Terms, Conditions and Guidelines as listed below. Participants agree and consent to that their work or any other materials that present their projects may be used and/or published by UCA as part of the digital and print event programmes or promotional materials as deemed appropriate by the Festival Organising Committee at UCA. The participants also consent to collection, processing, and use of their personal data by UCA for the purposes and within the Festival Rules, Terms, Conditions and Guidelines of UCA.
UCA reserves the right to make any necessary changes in the Festival Rules, Terms, Conditions and Guidelines or scheduling.

  • There is no entry fee for the Festival.
  • The work must be entirely the original work of the participants. Entries must never have been published, self-published, published on any website or broadcast in any form nor currently entered in any other competition before September 2023.
  • Entry to the competition is open to all citizens of Central Asia and beyond aged 18 and over. Entries must be submitted in the entrant’s real name.
  • The work/s can be presented in any language of Central Asia but must be submitted with an English translation.
  • Each separate work must be no longer than 20 lines on the theme of “A Living Land”. Entrants are encouraged to interpret this theme with imagination.
  • Under no circumstances can alterations be made to works once submitted.
  • Each entrant may submit up to 3 entries.
  • Handwritten entries cannot be accepted. Each entry must have a title.
  • Work/s can be submitted via the online application form available on Festival page: https://ucentralasia.org/nomad-2023-a-living-land/creative-writingdigital-experiments-competition-nomad-2023-a-living-land.
  • The copyright of the winning pieces remains with the authors. However, by entering the competition, the artists grant the School of Arts and Sciences permission to publish their works online for one year from September 1, 2023. Permission to publish other submitted works online will be requested from the authors on a case-by-case basis.
  • Winning entrants are willing to perform their works in person at UCA at “A Living Land” Festival.
  • Submissions to be made via the online form available on website.
  • Winners will be notified by email on August 31, 2023.
  • Judges will be appointed by the School of Arts and Sciences, University of Central Asia. Their decision will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
  • The competition closes on 23:59 UTC +6 August 18, 2023, and any entries received after this date will be rejected.
  • By entering this competition, entrants agree to abide by these Festival Rules, Terms, Conditions and Guidelines, and grant UCA all required consents and permissions as outlined by the Festival Rules, Terms, Conditions and Guidelines.

Enter the Competition