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A Call
For Stories

with Nali'bali

Nal’ibali is calling on writers to submit new, original children’s stories in all South African languages!

Stories in indigenous South African languages give more children access to stories in their mother tongue.

  • Top story for each language receives R3000 prize!. Runner-up story for each language receives R1800 prize.

Submissions close on 31st August 2026

(Stories in English and Afrikaans may also be submitted We are not offering prizes for them because we want to encourage writing in indigenous African languages during this campaign. Your contributions are always highly appreciated!)

Read the guidelines below about the kind of stories that we are looking for, as well as information about how to submit them.

Guidelines for writing a story.

  1. You may submit as many stories as you want to.
  2. Submit only original stories that have never been published before.
  3. You must be the copyright holder of any story that you submit. In other words, you need to own all rights to the story.
  4. Your stories need to be enjoyable for children aged between 6 and 11 years.
  5. We want children to link stories to reading for pleasure, not to teach them educational concepts or content they learn at school.
  6. Your stories must be between 775 and 900 words.
  7. Please add a summary of the story in English at the start of the story document (maximum 50 to 100 words).
  8. Each story must be submitted as a separate MS Word document.
  9. Your story may be translated into the other South African languages, so it must be equally satisfying in its original language and in translation.
  10. There is no renumeration for the stories. These stories will be regarded as a donation to Nal’ibali to help promote and elevate all our national languages.  You will be acknowledged as the author for the story, whether on radio or print.
  1. You may submit as many stories as you want to.
  2. Submit only original stories that have never been published before.
  3. You must be the copyright holder of any story that you submit. In other words, you need to own all rights to the story.
  4. Your stories need to be enjoyable for children aged between 6 and 11 years.
  5. We want children to link stories to reading for pleasure, not to teach them educational concepts or content they learn at school.
  6. Your stories must be between 775 and 900 words.
  7. Please add a summary of the story in English at the start of the story document (maximum 50 to 100 words).
  8. Each story must be submitted as a separate MS Word document.
  9. Your story may be translated into the other South African languages, so it must be equally satisfying in its original language and in translation.
  10. There is no renumeration for the stories. These stories will be regarded as a donation to Nal’ibali to help promote and elevate all our national languages.  You will be acknowledged as the author for the story, whether on radio or print.

Please watch this video before submitting your story

Submit your story here.

By submitting your story to Nal’ibali here, you agree that Nal’ibali may use your story free of charge.

Step 1 of 2

When you submit this form, it will not automatically collect your details like name and email address unless you provide it yourself.

Full Name
Please enter a 10-digit number without spaces or dashes i.e. 0732345671 Do not use country code i.e. +27