On Friday, the much-anticipated results of the fourth iteration of the Donner/Self Reliance/CarloJad Writing Competition for the 2025/2026 cycle were officially announced at a celebratory award ceremony held in the auditorium of the National Archives of Suriname.
After careful deliberation, the three-member jury panel, led by chair Hilde Neus and featuring jurors Jerry Dewnarain and Sandra Smit, selected top honors from a pool of 18 eligible submitted short stories. Emerging as the overall champion was writer Maggie Schmeitz for her evocative narrative *Warm Water*, who took home the competition’s top cash prize of 30,000 Surinamese dollars (SRD).
Second place was awarded to Leann O’Deill Prins for her story *The Face in the Spotlight*, which earned her a cash reward of 15,000 SRD, while Anjali Nagessar secured third place and 10,000 SRD for her piece *Déjà Vu*. Beyond the top three podium positions, the competition also awarded three encouragement prizes, each consisting of a 2,000 SRD book voucher to support emerging writing talent. Every participant who entered the competition received an official participation certificate, along with a personalized digital jury report with feedback on their submitted work.
The ceremony opened with opening remarks from Carlo Jadnanansing, chair of the Don Walther Foundation (SDWF), competition juror Sandra Smit, and Robby ‘Rappa’ Parabirsing, secretary of the SDWF, before jury chair Neus formally announced the full list of winners and walked attendees through the jury’s judging framework and assessment of the 18 submitted stories.
Following tradition from the competition’s first three editions, Schmeitz’s winning story *Warm Water* will be formally published next year after a final round of editorial review from the SDWF. This publication pathway has been in place since the competition launched: previous winning works including Willem Goedschalk’s *Jonah*, Stanley Betterson and Liliek’s *A Hunter Disappeared*, and Hariandi Todirijo’s *The Invisible Sprayer* all received official publication following their respective wins, creating a permanent literary record for emerging talent in the region.