Black Letter Media have announced the judges for their The Short Story is Dead, Long Live the Short Story! competition. They are Kgauhelo Dube, Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire and Sabata-mpho Mokae.
In April, we prompted aspiring writers about the The Short Story is Dead, Long Live the Short Story! competition. This competition was started last year and just like in the debut year was worth R5000, R1500 and R500 to the winning story and the two runner up stories. Those interested in the competition would submit short stories with the theme, “The people shall…” You as the writer would submit stories drawing inspiration from this phrase.
The team at Black Letter Media recently announced those who would be judging the stories that would be judging the stories in the running. They are literary activists in their own right.

SABATA-MPHO MOKAE writes in English and Setswana. He is the author of a biography The Story of Sol T Plaatje, a youth novella Dikeledi and a poetry collection Escaping Trauma. His first novel, Ga Ke Modisa [I’m Not My Brother’s Keeper] won the M-Net Literary Award for Best Novel in Setswana as well as the M-Net Film Award in 2013. The same book has since been prescribed as study material at the North West University (NWU) and Central University of Technology (CUT). Mokae also won the South African Literary Award in 2011. His short story Down Sol Plaatje Drive was performed on theatre stage in Iowa City, USA in 2014. His latest book Kanakotsame: In My Times, a collection of short English stories, was launched in 2015. In September/October 2015 he was a Writer of the Month in Accra, Ghana. In 2014 Mokae was a writer-in-residence at the University of Iowa, USA. He recently participated at the Singapore Writers Festival. He is a creative writing lecturer at the Sol Plaatje University in Kimberley.

KGAUHELO DUBE founded Kajeno Media which specialises in multimedia content strategy. She combines her experience and knowledge of the traditional advertising into the work she does within the arts sector – particularly in her work promoting African Literature across a myriad of media platforms. Readers of this blog will remember her for his work on the podcast #longstorySHORT project with videos you can see here. She was a nominee in the Department of Arts And Culture’s 2015 Mbokodo Women In Arts Award for the category of “Promoting Arts, Culture and Heritage in the Media”.

BWESIGYE BWA MWESIGIRE is a Ugandan lawyer and writer. His work appears mostly online at This is Africa, Africa in Words, African Arguments, Africa is a Country among others. He has also been published by Chimurenga Chronic, Saraba Magazine, African Roar among other literary periodicals. He has taught Human Rights and Legal Theory at various universities in Uganda. He holds undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Law and Security from Makerere and King’s College London, respectively. He is the co-founder of the Centre for African Cultural Excellence the hosts of the pan African Writivism Literary Initiative. He has in the past judged the Short Story Day Africa Children and Young Adult Prize.
The submissions deadline is two days away on the 31st of May so I suggest that you polish off those stories and send them off chap chap.
Good Luck.
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