n October of 2003, the African Writers Endowment, Inc. called for entries in its first African Writers Publishing Grant Program for 2004. Designed to provide opportunities for Black writers to get publishing contracts with Publishing Corporate Partners of AWE, the competitive program was divided into four categories: Poetry, Fiction (novels), Essays, and Biography/Autobiography. Unpublished manuscripts were invited, with certain parameters stipulated.

Founded in January 2001, with offices in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, AWE is a non-profit, community-based organization that aims to enable African writers develop their skills and craft; bring critical and commercial attention to the works of African writers; and celebrate the contributions of African writers to world history.

AWE wishes to announce the following finalists in the four categories. The finalists will go through a final stage of judging, with a different set of judges, after which winners will be announced by the end of October 2004. The list of finalists is not presented in any particular order. It is possible that in the final stage of judging the judges may find that none of the entries in one or all of the categories merits a win. It is also possible that in each category the judges might find that more than one entry deserves to win, in which case more than one winner would be announced in that category, following the approval of the AWE's Board of Trustees.

Winners in each category will receive a publishing contract with one of the Publishing Corporate Partners of AWE, as well as a $1,000 advance on royalties. By entering the contest, the participating writers had agreed to have their entries (if they win) published by one of AWE's publishing partners. It is important to note here that AWE is not a publishing outfit, at least as far as the African Writers Publication Grant Program is concerned. AWE's role is to help bring the work of African Writers to the market place of ideas by subsidizing the publishing of selected works - works which may not have been easily published without this program.

FINALISTS IN THE ESSAY CATEGORY:

Mobutu's Totalitarian Regime: The Decline of an African State

Writer: Dr. Peta Ikambana

Ofufe Chukwu: The Enduring Power of the Igbo Religion

Writer: Dr. Ernest U. Oramasionwu

Don't You Know Who I am? Essays on Nigeria's Cult of Bigmanism

Writer: Dr. Philip Effiong, Jr.

FINALISTS IN THE POETRY CATEGORY:

Regarscent Past: A Collection of Poems

Writer: Mr. Oseloka Obaze

Explosions of Emotions

Writer: Mr. Guinness Ohazurike

The Horsemen and Other Poems

Writer: Mr. Obi Nwakanma

FINALISTS IN THE FICTION CATEGORY:

Memoirs of a Housegirl

Writer: Dr. Philip Effiong, Jr.

Chika! Chika! Chika!

Writer: Mr. Chima Uchendu

Kure Kure and Other Stories

Writer: Mr. Oladele Taiwo

FINALISTS IN THE BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY CATEGORY:

The Sudan: From Ruin to Hope

Writer: General Joseph Lagu

Nigeria and Biafra: My Story

Writer: General Philip Efiong

The Halo

Writer: Mr. Charles Okwei