STORIES OF NAMORATUNGA STONES PART 1
ANCIENT STELLAR OBSERVATORY
Approximately 15km southwest of Kalokol and some 50m off on the south side of the road, the Dancing Stones of Namoratunga are undoubtedly one of East Africa’s most intriguing archaeological sites.
The site, consisting of a small cluster of cylindrical stones is believed by some to have functioned as an ancient kind of stellar observatory.
STORIES OF NAMORATUNGA STONES PART 2
THE STORY OF NAMORATUNGA STONES
There was a certain village that was known to have great dancers. They would dance every evening to the turkana traditional dance called Edong’a hence they became popular. There was this stranger that whished to participate in the dance, so he sent out a message to the village to express interest to partake the dance.
The villagers wondered why a stranger would send out a Messager to their village. As usual in the evening they prepared a feast for this stranger, but he didn’t arrive on time. So the villagers continued with their dance routine to the traditional dance dubbed Edong’a in the turkana language
STORIES OF NAMORATUNGA STONES PART 3
THE STORY OF NAMORATUNGA STONES
When the stranger arrived, the villagers didn’t recognize him. So as the night passed away, it was the strangers turn to dance, he joined the men but the villagers were amused at his dancing style and they broke out in laughter.
The stranger got angry and pronounced a curse on them and they turned into stones. To this day it’s believed that at night the villagers can be heard singing and dancing to Edong’a
STORIES OF NAMORATUNGA POSTER AND
SHORT STORY COMPETITION RULES
THE POSTER COMPETITION RULES
1. Eligibility: The competition is open to all individuals who are above 18 years of age at the time of entry, and who are currently resident in Africa.
2. Theme: The designs must adhere to the theme of posters depicting Stories of Namoratunga a megalithic site in northwestern Kenya, (and/or other African astro-cosmology) from 3000 BC to 3000 AD in the Space Faring future.
3. Posters must be designed to fit between 18 x 24 or 24 x 36 inch ( ) standard poster sizes in portrait orientation.
4. Content: The poster should be well-organized and visually appealing. The content should reflect (LOOK FOR POSTER COMPETION GUIDELINES).
5. Originality: Posters must be the original work of the entrants. Plagiarism or use of copyrighted material is strictly prohibited.
THE POSTER COMPETITION RULES
6. Language: Posters should be specifically in English (British) that can include the title words “Stories of Namoratunga”
7. Font: The font size should be large enough to be easily read from a distance. A font size of at least 24 points for the body text and 36 points for headings is recommended.
8. Submission: The poster must be submitted by midnight of June 12th 2023 EAT through the following link.
9. Disqualification: The competition organizers reserve the right to disqualify any entry that does not comply with the rules or that is deemed inappropriate or offensive.
THE SHORT STORY COMPETITION RULES
1. Short Stories are invented prose narratives, shorter than a novel, that usually deal with a few characters and aim at unity of effect. It often concentrates on the creation of mood rather than plot. The theme of the Stories of Namoratunga should focus on, but not be exclusive to, the following: African Cosmology; African cultural astronomy; African mythology on creation; African Archeoastronomy.
2. Eligibility: The competition is open to all individuals who are above 18 years of age at the time of entry, who are resident in Africa.
3. Topic: The story writers are required to write fiction stories about or based on Namoratunga, a megalithic site in northwestern Kenya, (and/or other African astro-cosmology) from 3000 BC to 3000 AD. And must be written for either adult readers or young adult readers between 12 to 16 years of age. Any essays that do not adhere to the theme will be disqualified.
4. Length: Stories must be submitted within a word count of not less than 1500 and not more than 3,000 words in Times Roman 12 pt 1 inch margins and double spaced. Any essays that exceed the word count will be disqualified. You can only submit one story per category. *Need to clarify on number of submissions on the google form.
5. Originality: All entries must be original works and must not have been previously published or submitted to any other competitions. The use of AI such as Chat GPT is discouraged.
6. Plagiarism: Any stories that are found to contain plagiarized content will be immediately disqualified.
7. Language: Entries must be submitted in the English language (either UK/ US spelling).
THE SHORT STORY COMPETITION RULES
8. Submission: Entries must be submitted by midnight of June 12th 2023 EAT through the following email address. Entries should be submitted through the Link https://bit.ly/OASEASStoryCompetition as a Microsoft Word Document. Your name should only appear on the cover page and not on any subsequent pages. The cover page should be the first page of the whole document. Do not send a separate cover page. Late or incomplete submissions will not be accepted and only one submission per participant per category will be accepted.
9. Judging: Stories will be judged based on specific criteria, as outlined in the competition details. The judges' decision is final and binding.
10. Intellectual property: By submitting a story, the entrant grants the competition organizers the right to use, reproduce, and distribute for promotional purposes as well as to publish in the anthology “Stories of Namoratunga”.
11. Disqualification: The competition organizers reserve the right to disqualify any entrant who does not adhere to the rules and guidelines outlined in the competition details.
12. Confidentiality: The competition organizers will not disclose any personal information submitted by the entrants, except as required by law.
13. Withdrawal: Entrants may withdraw their story from the competition at any time before the submission deadline. Once the deadline has passed, stories cannot be withdrawn.
14. Publicity: The competition organizers may publicize the names and stories of the winners and runners-up, along with their photographs, on the competition website or in other media outlets. The winner will be required to provide a short bio and a photograph of themselves to appear alongside the winning piece. For publication purposes only, a pen name or alias is permitted.
