Short Story in Arabic wins first Rainbow Caterpillar Children's Literature in Mother Language Award

 

Toronto, Ontario, December 7th 2011 – Rainbow Caterpillar Multilingual Children's Bookshop, is proud to announce that the winner of the first of the Rainbow Caterpillar Children's Literature in Mother Language Award is Ahmad Marouf for the short story Sea of Pearls written in Arabic.

 The award is given for superior writing for children in a language other than French or English to an original unpublished story by a Canadian citizen or resident as selected by an independent blind panel of judges.

 "We hope through this award to encourage writers of diverse backgrounds to go back to their roots and produce works in their mother languages," says Hanoosh Abbasi, co-owner of Rainbow Caterpillar Multilingual Bookshop. "In that way we aim to foster in Canada a rich production of stories for children in mother languages. We do hope there is sufficient interest in the writing community and this proves to be just the first edition of what will become a regular Award."

 The Award received a total of 37 stories in 8 languages from across Canada.

 The Award ceremony will be hosted by the Canadian Ethnic Media Association (CEMA) in the context of its own 33rd Annual Awards Gala

 Saturday December 10, 2011

Enwave Theatre, Harbourfront Centre

235 Queen's QuayWest

Pre-Awards Reception @ 6:00 p.m.

Awards Program begins promptly @ 7:00 p.m.

Followed by Awards Reception @ 9:00 p.m.

To reserve tickets please call (416) 764-3082 or email: lisa.warner@rci.rogers.com

 Rainbow Caterpillar gratefully aknowledges the generous support of CEMA for hosting the 2011 Rainbow Caterpillar Award and for their tireless work in supporting writers and journalists in mother languages in Canada

 Beyond the winner, this year's Honourable Mentions are:

Farzaneh Moaven – Who Do You Love The Most? (Farsi)

Letizia Tesi – Gino Salamino (Italian)

Sonia Sa – The Happy King (Portuguese)

Liet Lee Lopes – The First Snowman (Spanish)

Gerald Luzangi, Dorothy Luzangi, Verdiana Mhate Luzangi – Hunter with the Snake (Swahili)

Special thanks to the following individuals for donating their time to be judges:

Qais Ghanem, Arabic; Soodabeh Dahesh, Farsi; Allison Weiss, Hebrew; Krisztina Groe, Hungarian; Mariella Bertelli, Italian; Corrado Paina, Italian; Salvatore Bancheri, Italian; Suzy Soares, Portuguese; AnaBela Taborda, Portuguese; Barbara D'Oro Pereira, Portuguese; Zulima Wesso, Spanish; Martha Batiz, Spanish; Oswald Almasi, Swahili.

 About Ahmad Marouf

Ahmad Marouf is a journalist and a script writer.  He has been working for Radio Canada International in the Arabic Section since his arriving to Canada on 2005. He worked for the National Syrian TV as a producer of many programs, wrote many scripts for short cartoon movies for children, and wrote also the script of the first cartoon series ever produced by the national Syrian television.

Marouf published a collection of short stories in Arabic on 1998 and a small poetic texts collection in English in 2000. Currently Marouf collaborates with director Gaby Andraos on a documentary titled "One Heart … Two Homes" and has recently finished writing a feature movie screenplay named "The Noise of Living with Others".

 

Submission Guidelines  - Click Here   2

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Rainbow Caterpillar Bookstore launches award for writing for children in mother languages


Competition open to short stories for young children aims to support the preservation in Canada of mother languages


Toronto, Ontario, September 6th 2010 – Rainbow Caterpillar is proud to launch the Rainbow Caterpillar Award for Writing for Children to support writers who want to write in their mother languages.   The Award will be awarded to the best story written by a Canadian citizen or resident in a language other than French or English.

"By encouraging writers to write in their mother language, our goal is to help create a vibrant literary production for children in foreign languages, but with a uniquely Canadian perspective," says Happie Testa, co-owner of Rainbow Caterpillar Bookstore.

Submissions are due on October 6th and the guidelines will be available online at www.rainbowcaterpillar.ca. The best story will be recognized with the Rainbow Caterpillar Award.  There will also be special mentions for the best story in each language submitted at the discretion of the judging panel.  All the stories that are recognized will be published in a book. 

"We hope ultimately this award also helps parents pass their mother language on to their children born or raised in Canada," says Hanoosh Abbasi, co-owner of Rainbow Caterpillar. "We feel that it is important for parents to have access to good books from their countries of origin, but also to put their ancestral culture in the context of our shared Canadian culture where many people speak more than one language on a daily basis."

The Award will be presented in conjunction with the Canadian Ethnic Media Association (CEMA) at the Association's own 33rd Annual Awards Gala. CEMA is an organization dedicated to the promotion and preservation of the value to Canada of the ethnic media in creating an understanding of Canada and Canadian citizenship, and the retention of cultural links with countries of origin; http://canadianethnicmedia.com

 Research shows that children who are fluent in two languages […] are better at problem-solving, demonstrate greater creativity and express more tolerant attitudes toward others1.

 According to Census data, more than 20%, (6 million) of Canadian residents are allophones and speak a language other than French and English at home.

 

About Rainbow Caterpillar Bookstore

Rainbow Caterpillar Bookstore sells children's books in a number of languages from around the world to meet the needs of Canadian parents who want to teach their children their own mother tongues and raise them in a home language other than English and French.

It is to support them that Rainbow Caterpillar already offers nearly 100 titles in Italian, Spanish, Gujarati, Farsi, Arabic and Chinese and more languages are added on request of parents.  The products range from old-fashioned fairy tale books to interactive talking books, books with CDs, DVDs and even games that make it fun and easy to keep home languages alive without focusing on direct teaching, but on learning by living.

 1 Genesee, F., Early Dual Language Learning, Zero to Three, September 2008, p. 17

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For more information:
Happie Testa – 647-975-8800


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Submission Guidelines

 

Rainbow Caterpillar Competition - 2011

Writing for Children in Mother Language

 

Purpose of the Competition

To support the preservation of foreign mother languages in Canada.

To promote cross-cultural communication and understanding among the different cultures that make-up Canadian society.

To encourage a vibrant literary production for young children in foreign mother languages.

Submission Criteria
• The competition is open to prose (short stories)
• Submissions must be suitable for children between the ages of 5 and 10 years old.
• Submissions must be previously unpublished in any format and not under consideration by any publication or publisher.
• Submissions must be original and not a translation of a previously published work.
• Maximum length: 500 words.

• Multiple submissions are welcome.


Language
• Submissions must be in a language other than French and English and must be accompanied by an English summary.
• Submissions can be a translation by the author of the author's own unpublished original work in English or French language.

Eligible Writers
All writers, established and emerging.
Canadian citizens or residents.
Entry Fee
$15.00 per entry paid by cheque or money order to Rainbow Caterpillar.
The fee is non-refundable. Submissions for which a cheque is not received by the deadline will not be considered.
Please mail cheque to:

Rainbow Caterpillar

1245 Dupont St. PO Box 99028 Toronto Ont. M6H 2A0


Judging
Blind judging. 

Submission Deadline
October 6, 2011 (postmark on envelope or e-mail date)

Announcement of Results
Winners will be contacted individually in November, and their names will subsequently be announced officially.

Award ceremony will take place in Toronto in November.

Prizes
• Award: $750.00 (CDN) and publication in a collection of all winning submissions.
•Up to 10 Honourable mentions in different languages: publication in a collection of all winning submissions.

 

How to Submit
Each submission must be accompanied by a cover letter and entry fee.

Submissions must be typed (not hand-written), double-spaced, and each page must be numbered and indicate language and title.

Each submission must have a cover page with submission's title, language and total number of pages and words of submission as well as the author's full name, address, phone number, e-mail address and status in Canada

Sumbissions must be accompanied by a summary in English.

Accompanying illustrations are welcome and will be taken into consideration.

Writers are welcome to submit a brief biography.

Submissions are accepted by by mail or by e-mail in MS Word or PDF format at the following addresses:

Rainbow Caterpillar

1245 Dupont St. PO Box 99028 Toronto Ont. M6H 2A0

info@rainbowcaterpillar.ca

Manuscripts will not be returned.