1. Objective
The Nunavut Tunngavik Foundation (NTF) recognizes the importance of protecting, promoting and revitalizing Inuktut in written works and wishes to provide an incentive and support to encourage more Inuit to write and publish material in Inuktut.
2. Purpose
The purpose of Inuktuuqta is to provide:
a) a monetary award of eighty thousand dollars ($80,000.00) to an eligible Inuk who is selected to receive the Inuktut Writing Prize for their submission of a written work in Inuktut (“the recipient”);
b) an opportunity for a sponsored writing residency at a college or a university for the recipient;
c) an opportunity for the recipient to work with other Inuit such as writers, linguists, mentors, and editors etc. to finalize their written work; and
d) cash prizes for four (4) runner-up winners (the “Additional Prizes”), and their submissions may be compiled and published as excerpts, in whole or in part upon the discretion of NTF, to encourage the repertoire of written materials by Inuit in Inuktut. The amount of the Additional Prizes for runner- up winners will be as follows:
Ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00) – 2nd place Five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) – 3rd place Three thousand dollars ($3,000.00) – 4th place Two thousand dollars ($2,000.00) – 5th place
e) All winners may also be offered an opportunity to participate in a writing workshop upon the discretion of NTF.
3. Eligibility
Any Inuk enrolled under the Nunavut Agreement over the age of 18, is eligible to submit an Inuktut material for consideration.
The following individuals are excluded from applying: NTF Board of Directors and employees; Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI) Board of Directors and employees; and Inuktut Writing Contest Selection Committee (the “Committee”) and Appeal Committee members.
4. Criteria
Initial Outline Submission
To be considered for Inuktuuqta an Inuk must submit an Inuktut material which outlines the intended full-length written composition in Inuktut with a minimum of 8 double-spaced pages and a maximum of 12 double-spaced pages.
Final Submission
Where an applicant’s Work has been selected by the Committee, the recipient must complete the initial outline into a full-length composition that should ideally be 200 pages or longer in single space, and no less than 150 pages at a minimum, unless the CEO approves otherwise in exceptional circumstances. The Inuktut written work must be an original work written by the author which has not been previously published. The Inuktut written work must not contain content written by other writers.
The Chief Executive Officer of NTI, on behalf of NTF, may set themes prior to the submission period opens, including themes for fiction, non-fiction or any other themes as appropriate.
5. Requirements
The submission of a Inuktut written work must include an application form that contains the name of the applicant, the enrollment number under the Nunavut Agreement, the address, contact information including telephone number and email address and the date of the submission. The author’s name must not appear anywhere in the Inuktut material either in the body, the title, or the electronic file name to ensure the objectivity of the Committee.
6. Submission Period
The submission period for Inuktuuqta will be open for a period of three months. The closing date may be extended where warranted.
7. Screening of Submissions
Submissions will be pre-screened by NTF staff to ensure the submissions meet the requirements of the Prize and the threshold requirement of minimum and maximum page count.
The application form will also be pre-screened to assess all necessary information is included.
NTF staff may follow-up with applicants to ensure completeness of submissions and application forms.
Only submissions that meet the minimum requirements will be submitted to the Committee for review and selection. Any initial outline submission that does not meet the requirements of an written work in a format of a minimum of 8 double-spaced pages and a maximum of 12 double-spaced pages will be returned to the applicant.
8. Review of Submissions
Submissions will be reviewed by the Committee appointed by NTF President, comprising of experts in Inuktut authors, story-tellers, linguistics, creative writing, and publishing. The Committee must include regional representation of Nunavut, and may include appointment of alternate members to review Inuinnaqtun written works. The Program Manager may utilize open nomination processes to solicit potential members to recommend appointments to the Committee.
The review by the Committee must be fair, impartial and inclusive to all forms of Inuktut written works. The review must also respect all dialects and preferences of dialects by the applicants.
The review may include whether there is adequate regional representation of all Inuktut written works. Where possible, there should be at least one winner from each of the Regions in Nunavut.
The Committee will review the final draft of the full-length composition to ensure compliance with the minimum requirements, or recommend further editing of the full-length composition, or reject the draft if it does not meet the minimum requirements of a full-length composition.
If there is a complaint of plagiarism, or if the screening staff, or a member of the Committee suspects that a submission has been plagiarized, NTF will conduct a reasonable investigation and disqualify the submission if plagiarism has been found.
9. Appeal Process
An unsuccessful applicant may appeal the decision to an Appeal Committee comprising of up to three (3) individuals appointed by NTF President. The decision of the Appeal Committee is final.
The appeal application must provide reasons for the appeal to be considered.
10. Inuktut Writing Prize Payment
Inuktuuqta prize money will be issued by installments, with final payments provided to the recipient of the Award after full completion of its written work to the satisfactory of the Committee.
11. Terms and Conditions
The successful recipient must agree to additional terms and conditions deemed necessary by NTI Chief Executive Officer, prior to receiving the Inuktuuqta prize, including repayment of the prize money if the recipient is unable to complete the written work, if the work is faulty, contains plagiarism, or if the final written work does not meet the minimum requirements.
The recipient must agree to produce a final composition that meets the length requirement. The recipient will retain the copyright and the right to publication and reproduction of the Inuktut written work.
The recipient may be required to enter into a licensing agreement with NTF or NTI to publicize or publish the Inuktut Writing Prize work, in whole or in part, upon NTF’s discretion, which may include the right to translate, edit, abridge or excerpt the work for the purposes of publication (the author will be consulted if significant edits are necessary), the right to make an audio/video recording by means of any existing or not-yet-invented technology, to distribute and broadcast readings of works or excerpts in the original language or in translation, on websites/platforms controlled or authorized by NTF.
12. Annual Budget
The Inuktuuqta program is subject to an annual budget approved by NTF Board of Directors.
The annual budget may include administration costs.
Administration costs may include communications, publicizing costs, printing materials for guides, brochures, pamphlets, honoraria for Committee members, fees for writers, linguists, mentors or editors and reproduction of selected Inuktut written works under a licensing agreement.
13. Frequency
Inuktuuqta will run every two years. The opening and closing periods for the contest will be determined by the Chief Executive Officer of NTI, on behalf of NTF.
