Sharing a link to my other blog

Sharing the link to my other blog with a post about my new ebook My Three Moms YA or NA
Please read
http://hazeldeebooks.blogspot.com/2015/03/new-ebook-my-three-moms.html 

 

buy at

www.amazon.com/My-Three-Moms-Hazel-Campbell-ebook/dp/B00UMAA300/

Lignum Vitae Writing Awards (Jamaica) announced

 

Popular Vic Reid book

Una Marson selected poems

popular Jean D'Costa book

So, a revised version of the literary competition formerly hosted by the National Book Council of Jamaica has been launched. The Lignum Vitae Writing Awards has been announced. (See Diane Browne's blog post at http://dianebrowneblog.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-launch-of-lignum-vitae-writing.html)

There are three sections: the Una Marson Award for adult literature, The Vic Reid award for YA literature and the Jean D'Costa Award for children's literature.

I hope there are many writers both aspiring and already established who will enter their work for these awards.

Many competitions nowadays specify that they are for emergent writers. While it is desirable to encourage new writers, competitions also allow those who might already have been published access to discovery of their new material as well as compensation which many older writers welcome.

 The prizes for the Lignum Vitae competition are attractive. The Una Marson Award winner will receive $500,000; while the winners of the Vic Reid and Jean D’Costa awards will each receive $250,000.

Good writing is good writing whether it is coming from old or new authors. And that is what we need. So, authors, start writing with this in mind or brush up already existing material. I am excited to see what turns up.

The deadline for submissions is June 30 and the awards will be held in October 2015

(Self promotion )
My collections of short stories Ramgoat Dashalong won the Vic Reid Award in 1997
https://www.lmhpublishing.com/children/ramgoat-dashalong

How to Animate the Animators

accompanying illustration to the Observer article

(two extracts)

1

From the Sunday Osberver Sunday April 27, 2014 (The Agenda page 2)

A PARENT'S LAMENT

Where are the Promised Jobs?

"None of them have landed jobs, not my son or any of those who completed the course with him," said the parent, an acquaintance of mine, as we spoke of the recent buzz and hype surrounding animation in Jamaica.

"I specifically enrolled him in the animation course because we were told that at completion, at graduation they would all get jobs. When everything was added up, that is the cost of the course $175,000, I must have spent well over $250,000 including cost of the tablet, lunch and everything,"

"So who told you the jobs were guaranteed?" I asked.

"It was advertised right alongside the course that graduation guaranteed a job....

2

From the Sunday Gleaner April 27, 2014 (UWI Mona Now page 3)

High Demand for CARIMAC's Animation Programme

....."Animate Jamaica offers these youth the chance to train in a discipline that has applications in many fields such as education, game development, media production, architecture and advertising. They also leave the programme with a range of skills and competencies that are welcome and needed, even at entry level." ....

########

Put the two together and you get hope and despair.  If I recall correctly when the training programme was launched there was much hype about the fact that major production companies abroad were farming out animation services worldwide, so there would be jobs galore. At the time, I thought- as usual, nobody is thinking about developing this for ourselves. That means putting in place the support needed to make animation ours, not just copies of 'elsewhere'.

The technology, by itself is only a means to an end, whether it be for education or entertainment. Somebody(ies) need to develop the material which will be used by the technology. The developers of the software use teams of writers to come up with the material which the animators animate. Doubtless we already have lots of basic material which can be used but persons need to be trained in writing scripts specifically for animation.  I don't know if any such courses are available here. (I am open to correction). So while we wait on the jobs from 'outside', perhaps if we paid some attention to this aspect, we could be getting along with developing our own material and not be so dependent on others, and create an industry with jobs for the graduates. What is going on the tablets the government is investing in for schools?  New technology - same dependence on material other people create.

Meanwhile, the three year old visitor to my house happily manipulates the all- foreign material on his Ipad - Mickey Mouse, various Disney games, Japanese superheroes – same old, same old.

P.S. I would be happy to hear that development of material is being done behind the scenes. Please let me know.