Theme – Contemporary Inspirational Women

The Gamani Corea Foundation has decided to recognize the efforts of Sri Lankan contemporary women who have overcome immense challenges to reach unprecedented success, within the past 3 – 5 years. They will be judged on their contribution in terms of:

Family Emancipation – the upliftment of the social standing of their family,

Entrepreneurship- their contribution toward the economic development of the country

Exceptional Achievement- Attracting fame and global recognition

Family Emancipation

This category will focus on contemporary home makers who have undergone unsurmountable hardship, and overcome great challenges, who have a success story to share. The hardships which they have endured can be socio-economic, medical problems, personal tragedy, discrimination or environmental challenges.

Entrepreneurship

This will focus on women who have achieved great heights in business, where the main focus will be on the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector. This sector will try to identify contemporary entrepreneurs who have started off with minimal capital investment and have managed to reach great heights in terms of product, business acumen, job creation, Forex income, eco-friendliness, and novelty.

Exceptional Achievement

Attracting fame and global recognition This section will focus on those who have excelled in science, technology, sports, arts, defense, education, or any other notable field that doesn’t fall under the categories of Family Emancipation or Entrepreneurship. Fame and international recognition gained by overcoming obstacles are the focus of this section.

It is an established fact that women play a major role not only in the development effort of the country, but also in uplifting the quality of life, and social standing of their families. In the current context, there is an increase in women-headed households, and it is the woman who carries the burden of providing for their families as well as looking after the children and attending to all household duties. Their stories about how they cope with the challenges of this situation and become winners would undoubtedly be an inspiration to others facing similar challenges. In addition, they could provide a useful guide to policymakers in formulating future policies for the betterment of society in general.

A Competition for Story Writers

The Freda Corea Wards 2022 was conceptualized as a competition for story writers. The competition is open to writers in Sri Lanka and entries will be accepted in English, Sinhala, and Tamil. However, those who write in Sinhala or Tamil will have to provide an English translation of their stories. The competition is open to all citizens of Sri Lanka irrespective of age or other considerations. Retired writers are also welcome.

The task of the story writers is to identify women, whose success would be an inspiration to others. Through personal dialogue with them, writers should identify the challenges they faced and unravel the manner in which those challenges were overcome. The Freda Corea Awards 2022, will offer attractive prizes to both the writers and the inspirational women whose stories are submitted.

Prizes

Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards will be presented to the selected women awardees as well as the writers for the first, second, and third best stories in each category as indicated below.

The Freda Corea Awards will be an annual event targeting contemporary women who have inspiring stories to share with other aspiring women.

Terms & Conditions

1. Stories can be submitted in English Sinhala or Tamil.
2. All stories submitted must be the original work of the writer.
3. The writer should get written approval from the prospective awardee, to write her story and submit it along with her written approval of the story. All submissions must be endorsed by the prospective awardee as well as a notable authority in the area.
   Eg.the Grama Sevaka, the Principle of the school in the area.
4. All entries will be the property of the Gamani Corea Foundation at the point of submission.
5. The short-listed candidate’s authenticity will be established after a team of the GCF-FCA 2022 will visit and verify the information stated in the written submission.
6. The decision of the evaluation committee regarding the winners will be final and cannot be contested.
7. The Gamani Corea Foundation cannot be held responsible for any losses or damages caused to anyone as a result of this endeavor

The approval letter of the prospective awardee should include:

• Full name of prospective awardee
• Contact number
• Identity card number
• Postal address
• Email address
• Digital photo
• Signature

1.  The authenticity of the submissions will be rechecked independently by contacting the relevant person/s and doing a background check.
2. Stories should conform to the following requirements: (for all three languages)

• Should be between 1000 – 1500 words
• The writers can submit stories in English, Sinhala, or Tamil. However, an
  English translations of the stories written in Sinhala and Tamil will have to be provided by the writer.
• Stories should be submitted in ‘Word’ format in font size 12
• The story should have a well-defined beginning, a body, and an end.
• They should be written in clear concise language which can be easily
  understood.
• Each sentence should not be longer than three lines.
• A story should focus only on one inspirational woman.
• A writer can select one, two or all three categories to write stories.
• A writer can write only one story in each category.
• Should be based on facts validated by the owner of the story.
• In addition to the story, writers should provide details and background material relating to the person on whom the story is written, under the different headings as follows

FAMILY EMANCIPATION

Family background:
Details of husband children other dependents
Dwelling:
Ownership and condition of the dwelling. Facilities such as toilets water supply etc.
Surrounding environment – Influences of the people living close by.

Educational level
Sources of income
Travel constraints – Facilities for travel
Exposure to environmental threats – animals and natural disaster.
Role of government institutions:
Whether they are entitled to Samudhi benefits, thriposha.
Access to medical facilities etc.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Small and medium scale enterprise (SMEs)
Entrants should be those with less than 10M. capital investment.

Access to capital :
Capacity to raise capital. Family background and circle of friends.
Knowledge of market:
Educational background.
Ability to deal with government institutions.

EXCEPTIONAL ACHIEVEMENT

Income:
Family’s collective regular monthly income should be less than Rs 100,000/-
Recognized achievements:
The following information should be clearly stated at the top right-hand corner of each entry.

• Full name of the writer
• Full name of the prospective awardee about whom the story is written.
• Category Eg. Family Emancipation.
• The identity card number of the writer
• Digital photo of the writer

The following attestation should be attached to each entry and signed by both the writer and the prospective awardee.

I hereby declare that the information given above is true and accurate. If I am selected, I agree to abide by the rules & regulations of the Freda Corea Awards 2022 and I will accept the judgment of the evaluation committee as final and will not contest their judgment.

5. The above attestation should be signed and dated.
6. All stories should be submitted by email to: secretary@gamanicoreafoundation.lk

Steps to follow when writing the stories

1. Identify a woman who has achieved outstanding success within the last three – five years by overcoming seemingly unsurmountable challenges and obstacles.
2. The stories should be about women who are an inspiration to others.
3. Background information regarding the woman and her achievement should be clearly articulated.
4. The challenges and obstacles faced by the woman must be identified and clearly described.
5. The strategies and methods adopted by women to overcome the challenges and obstacles should be obtained through personal dialogue with them.
6. The lessons learnt through these inspirational stories should be highlighted for the guidance of policy makers.

Winners will be selected through a points-based selection process based on the content and quality of the stories, by an evaluation committee set up for this purpose by the Gamini Corea Foundation.

The evaluation committee will set out the guidelines for writers and they will be made available to them by email, post online registration.

Registration forms can be downloaded from https://gamanicoreafoundation.lk/fca2022/ The duly filled online registration forms should be submitted before the closing date for
applications, . . . . . . . . . 2022.

Please fill out the following registration form to enter the competition.
After registration, an email accepting your registration will be sent to you along with the instructions and deadlines for submission.