The University of Johannesburg Prize 2017 shortlist was announced on September 11, 2018. Those in the running for the prize include Fred Khumalo, Lesego Rampolokeng, and Rehana Rossouw.
The University of Johannesburg Prize for South African Writing in English, also known as the UJ Prize, was instituted in 2006. It comprises of a main prize and a debut prize, given annually for “the best original creative work in English published in the previous calendar year”. The prizes are judged by a panel of four members of the Department of English at the University of Johannesburg, two academics from other universities and one member of the media or publishing industry. The prizes are not linked to a specific genre. The main prize winner goes with R75 000 while the debut prize winner goes home with R35 000.
In 2016 the main prize went to Nthikeng Mohlele and Mohale Mashigo got the debut prize. Other previous winners of the prize are in 2015 Rachel’s Blue” by Zakes Mda for the Main prize and The Story of Anna P, As Told By Herself by Penny Busetto for the debut prize. In 2014, the main prize went to The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes while the debut prize went to False River by Dominique Botha. In 2013, the main prize went to Life Underwater by Ken Barris while the debut prize went to Entanglement by Steven Boykey Sidley. The 2012 main prize went to The Landscape Painter by Craig Higginson while the debut prize was collected for The Sea of Wise Insects by Terry Westby-Nunn. In 2011, the main prize went to Double Negative by Ivan Vladislavic while the debut prize went to Not a Fairy Tale by Shaida Ali. The 2010 Main prize went to High-low In-between by Imraan Coovadia while the debut prize went to Native Nostalgia by Jacob Dlamini.
Those in the running for the 2018 edition of the prize were announced by the judges who this year are Sikhumbuzo Mngadi (UJ), Ronit Frenkel (UJ), Danyela Demir (UJ), Rebecca Fasselt (UP), Bridget Grogan (UJ), Nyasha Mboti (UJ), and Thabo Tsehloane (UJ). UJ is university of Johannesburg while UP is University of Pretoria. Those in the running for the prize are;
Main Prize.
- Dancing the Death Drill by Fred Khumalo.
- Bird-Monk Seding by Lesego Rampolokeng.
- New Times by Rehana Rossouw.
- The Inside-Out Man by Fred Strydom.
Debut Prize.
- Grace by Barbara Boswell.
- Killing Karoline by Sara-Jayne King.
The winners will be announced later in the year.
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