Ngala Chome was announced the winner of the Royal African Society’s African Author Prize 2018-2019 on June 15, 2020.
The African Author Prize from the Royal African Society’s African Journal is awarded for the best article published by an author based in an African institution, or an African PhD student based in an overseas university. The prize is in recognition of excellent African scholarship, which often does not reach audiences outside the African continent. Previous winners have been Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai, Godfrey Maringira, Biniam E. Bedasso, Euclides Gonçalves, Peace Medie, J. Shola Omotola, Samson A. Bezabeh, Lephophotho Mashike, and George M. Bob-Milliar.
This year’s prize committee included the editors of African Affairs and three members of the journal’s editorial board: Julia Gallagher, Nana Akua Anyidoho, and Tim Kelsall. This panel announced the winner as Ngala Chome for his paper From Islamic reform to Muslim activism: The evolution of an Islamist ideology in Kenya. It was selected because it addresses an important political issue in an interesting and original way. It also weaves together primary and secondary material to construct a rich and persuasive narrative and has wider theoretical relevance beyond the Kenyan case.
Chome receives a cash prize of £500, one year’s free subscription to African Affairs, an economy airfare to London, and £500 for expenses to attend the ASAUK Conference in Oxford.
The Prize runner-up was announced as j Siguru Wahutu for Representations of Africa in African media: The case of the Darfur violence. Wahutu receives one year’s free subscription to the journal.
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