The Ministry of Culture (MiCultura) appeals to interested parties to participate in the Ricardo Miró National Literature Competition version 2021 with registration closed June 30.

The Ricardo Miró National Literature Competition consists of five (5) genres: poetry, tale, novel, essay and theater and is the most prestigious and oldest literary contest in Panama, held every year since 1942.

It is up to the Department of Letters of MiCultura to ensure compliance with competition standards and to safeguard the seriousness, prestige and honour of the recognized Ricardo Miró prize.

Those interested in participating in the contest in their different genres have to get into the web at www.MiCultura.gob.pa / contest to fill out the form and follow them.

Nevertheless, MiCultura details that the contest will have Panamanian participation by birth, whether resident or otherwise at national level and Panamanian by naturalization with more than five (5) years of established residence in the country.

Each paper submitted to contest should be unpublished, written in Spanish, have a single author and correspond to a single literary genre.

The Jury for each category is elected every year from writers, critics and academics with a recognised track record, and remains a secret until the day that the winner or winner of the literary genre will be awarded a B / 15,000 prize.

It's important to note that, for this year's Bicentennial of Panama's Independence of Spain, the topic of the essay section will be about this important historic event.

The test should have a minimum length of one hundred and twenty (120) pages and a maximum of three hundred (300).

The minimum length in the count category with free theme is a hundred (100) pages and will be made up of a set of six (6) or more stories.

For the novel section, the theme and style are free and will have a minimum length of one hundred and fifty (150) pages and a maximum of four hundred (400) pages.

The poemary with respect to his writing for his poetry section will consist of several poetry, with a theme and free style with a minimum length of 6 (600) verses, written with double space. The poems may or may not have individual titles and should include an index.

The playwrights that participate in the stage category have to note that the play can be made up of one or more free-style and theme events or events. The average extension should be estimated at least an hour and 30 minutes and corresponds to about 50 pages.

The participating works cannot have been previously submitted or made public by any means.

The awards may be declared deserts if, as a majority of the jury considers, the participating works do not meet the literary quality required by the corresponding gender.

That literary contest was due to the initiative of the poet, storyteller and journalist of Panama, Moses

Castillo, as a tribute to the memory of the great Vate Miró with the aim of strengthening national literature, to give it every year and to promote literary wealth in the genres of poetry, tale, novel, essay and theater.

Some leading works of the Ricardo Miró contest throughout his history include "Jumilosa Symphony in twelve sonetos," in poetry by Stella Sierra, "From the intellectual life in the Panamanian colony," Essay, by Don Rodrigo Miró, "The Head," a novel by Don José A. Cajar Málaga and Luna Verde, a novel by Don Joaquín Beleño.

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