New literary prize for African writers

A new literary award for African writers, the Penguin Prize for African Writing, has been announced by South African publishers, Penguin Books.

The award which comes with a R50,000 (approximately $5,000) cash prize and a publishing contract with Penguin Books, together with worldwide distribution via Penguin Group companies is for a previously unpublished full-length work of adult fiction and one of non-fiction.

To qualify for the non-fiction category, a submission must be a serious narrative examining and exploring African issues and experiences for both local and international audiences in an engaging, thought provoking and enlightening manner.

The judges will be on the lookout for novels with fresh and original ideas that represent the finest examples of contemporary fiction to come out of Africa in the fiction category.

Chief executive officer of Penguin Books, Alison Lowry stated that while encouraging new writers, the prize will not exclude established ones. "We believe that there are new writers from Africa and in providing this platform, we hope to reflect and showcase the diversity of voices on our continent both home and abroad."

Two panels of judges from Africa will be constituted for shortlisted entries in the two categories. The judges will base their decisions on the electronic copies of work sent in. Submissions for both categories are open until January 30, 2010.

The shortlist will be announced in April 2010 and the final prizes will be awarded in September 2010.

The criteria for the non-fiction prize are:

Submissions must be in English and typed full-length works (between 60,000 and 100,000 words). For those who do not write English,

translations into English will be accepted, as long as the rights to publish in English around the world are not held by another publisher.

They must be original works, be previously unpublished and the rights should be available to Penguin Books (SA) for worldwide publication and distribution.

Single or multi-author submissions are eligible.

Entrants must be citizens of an African country, where Africa is defined as continental Africa and the associated islands.

Entrants must keep copies of their work, as manuscripts will not be returned and one entry only is to be submitted.

Soft copy of submissions to be sent to: fictionprize@za.penguingroup.com is preferred. Hard copy submissions will only be accepted under exceptional circumstances after formal correspondence with the prize administrator.