Ples Singsing welcomes it’s first sponsors and announces its next writing competition

By Caroline Evari

With only two weeks away from staging the Tingting Bilong Mi Essay competition awards ceremony, we were caught by surprise by prominent Papua New Guinean writer Daniel Kumbon posted a comment on March 25 at 11:42am, on the PNG Attitude blog Women triumph in first essay contest that read:

“K5,000 will be contributed towards the cause. We, Paul Kurai and I request the organizing committee to contact us.K1,000 of this contribution is from the first sales of Victory Song of Pingetas Daughter . We wish it to be distributed to the three winners and the names of the writers whose names appear in the article here. Give an extra K100 each to the three winners and K100 each to the others. The K4,000 is for prizes at the discretion of the organizing committee. We will formerly write to Dr. Michael Dom and the organizing committee for the possibility of naming one of the categories ‘The Kurai Memorial Prize’. We will discuss more later but first send the official bank account details of Ples Singsing to my email address.”

It is the internet that has made it possible for most PNG writers in terms of writing and publishing, connecting with their audiences, marketing and selling their books but most importantly networking with generous people such as Mr. Paul Kurai, a simple Papua New Guinean businessman who is from Wabag in the Enga Province of Papua New Guinea. Mr. Kuari’s maternal grandfather was a policeman and as told in the Victory Song of Pingeta’s Daughter, he was shot by Michael Leahy in the award-winning documentary film ‘First Contact’ leaving behind his mum and uncles as orphans. In memory of his late grandfather who without any formal education became a policeman and served his people and the country, he has asked Ples Sinsing to run a writing contest for writers to have a chance in winning the ‘The Kuari Memorial Prize’. The details of this competition will be posted towards the end of April.

You can purchase a paperback copy of Victory Song of Pingetas Daughter online for $69.55 or you can drop by at the Ribito Grill and Restaurant adjacent to the Air Niugini sales office at Waigani Central in Port Moresby and grab a copy for K250.00
The Ples Singsing Masterminds would like to sincerely thank Daniel Kumbon and Mr. Paul Kurai for their generous support towards a worthy cause. Should you wish to also make a donation, please send us an email on plessingsing@gmail.com