Call for Entries for the University of Johannesburg Prize for South African Writing in English

 
The University of Johannesburg Prize for South African Writing in English is now open for the submissions.

The UJ Prize has two categories, Main and Debut, and is open to creative writing in any genre.

The UJ Prize comes with a R75 000 cash award, while the UJ Debut Prize is worth R35 000.

The 2014/14 editions of the prize went to Zakes Mda for Rachel’s Blue and Penny Busetto for The Story of Anna P, As Told By Herself.

The previous year’s awards went to Lauren Beukes, for The Shining Girls, and Dominique Botha, for False River.

Press release:

Please send your submissions (five copies of each) to us by 30 November 2015. Second (and last date) for submission: 30 January 2016.

Works may be submitted in either or both of the categories listed below:

• The UJ Prize for the best creative work in English; and

• The UJ Prize for the best creative debut work in English.

The value of the prizes is:

• The UJ Prize: R75 000

• The UJ Debut Prize: R35 000

The selection panel

The selection panel comprises the following five members:

Three members of the Department of English, UJ; two academics from other universities; or one academic from another university and one member from the media industry or publishing.

Genre

We do not link the prizes to a specific genre. This may make the evaluation more difficult in the sense that, for example, a volume of poetry, a novel and a biographical work must be measured against one another, but our intention is to open the prize to as many forms of creative writing as possible.

How to submit

Publishers who wish to submit entries for the UJ prize for works published in 2015 should contact Mrs Nicole Moore (nicolem@uj.ac.za).

Please send all submissions to the addresses below:

By courier:

Nicole Moore
University of Johannesburg
English Dept
B-Ring 721
Kingsway Road
Auckland Park
Johannesburg

By mail:

Nicole Moore
University of Johannesburg
English Dept
PO Box 526
Auckland Park 2006
Johannesburg

History: The University of Johannesburg Prize for South African Writing in English 2014

The main prize of R75 000 was awarded to Zakes Mda for Rachel’s Blue. The debut prize of R35 000 was awarded to Penny Busetto for The Story of Anna P, As Told By Herself. A formal prize-giving ceremony was held at a function in September 2015.

Approximately 70 works were submitted, from which the following books were selected for the shortlist.

Main Prize:

Rachel’s Blue, Zakes Mda
Askari, Jacob Dlamini
Arctic Summer, Damon Galgut
Broken Monsters, Lauren Beukes
Karoo Dusk, Johan Vlok Louw

Debut Prize:

The Story of Anna P, As Told by Herself, Penny Busetto
The Reactive, Masande Ntshanga
The Alibi Club, Jaco van Schalkwyk
An Imperfect Blessing, Nadia Davids

Adjudication panel

Karen Scherzinger (UJ)
Craig MacKenzie (UJ)
Ronit Frenkel (UJ)
Sikumbuzo Mngadi (UJ)
Michael Titlestad (Wits and Media)
Etienne Terblanche (NWU)
Chris Ouma (UCT)

Book details

• Rachel’s Blue by Zakes Mda
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9780795706813
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

• The Story of Anna P, as Told by Herself by Penny Busetto
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781431410163
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Related stories:

• Zakes Mda and Penny Busetto Win the 2014/2015 University of Johannesburg Prizes for South African Writing (English)
• Read Zakes Mda’s UJ Prize Acceptance Speech and Ronit Frenkel’s Praise of Rachel’s Blue
• Read Penny Busetto’s UJ Prize Acceptance Speech and Craig MacKenzie’s Praise of The Story of Anna P, as Told by Herself
• Lauren Beukes and Dominique Botha Win the 2013/2014 University of Johannesburg Prizes
• Read Lauren Beukes’ UJ Prize Acceptance Speech and Craig MacKenzie’s Praise of The Shining Girls
• Read Dominique Botha’s UJ Prize Acceptance Speech and Karen Scherzinger’s Thoughtful Comments on False River