Munachim Amah and Charles King are the winners of this year’s Writivism 2017 prizes for fiction and nonfiction. The announcement was made at a ceremony in Kampala, Uganda on August 19 as part of Writivism Festival 2017.
The Writivism initiative has two prizes for writing. The fiction prize is called the Writivism Short Story Prize while the nonfiction prize is called the Koffi Addo Writivism Prize for Creative Non Fiction.
Writivism Short Story Prize 2017
The fiction prize is the Writivism Short Story Prize and it celebrates writers from the African continent of prose from the previous year. The prize which was born on the back of the Writivism initiative in 2012 gives winners cash and more goodies to its winners and its shortlistees. Previous winners of the prize include Ugandan Acan Innocent in 2016, Nigerian Pemi Aguda in 2015 (Nigeria), 2014: South African Saaleha Idrees Bamjee in 2014, and Ugandan Anthea Paelo in 2013.
This year, those in the running for the prize were Fairies by Saaleha Bhamjee, Mobache by Régine Gwladys Lebouda, Stolen Pieces by Munachim Amah, The (Un)Lucky Ones by Andrew C. Dakalira, and This Story Has No End by Blessing J. Christopher. The judges for the prize were judged by Helon Habila (chair), Sumayya Lee, Ayesha Harruna Attah, Emmanuel Sigauke and Edwige-Renée Dro.
The winner is Munachim Amah for his short story Stolen Pieces and he goes home with the US$400 prize money as well as a one month writing residency at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.
Koffi Addo Writivism Prize for Creative Non Fiction 2017
The nonfiction Writivism prize is called the Koffi Addo Writivism Prize for Creative Non Fiction and was started last year in Ghana before going continental. The first winner of the prize was Accra, Ghana based yoga instructor S.Y Tetteh.
This year those in the running for this newly continental prize were A Long Way From Home by Vivian Uchechi Ogbonna , Finding Binyavanga by Sada Malumfashi, and Meat Bomb by Charles King. The prize was being judged by E. C. Osondu (chair), Panashe Chigumadzi and Angela Kintu Rwabose.
The winner who was announced was Cape Town based lecturer and writer Charles King. You can read Meat Bomb here.
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