Swazi Fest Writer’s Awards successfully launched

MBABANE- The second Swazi Fest Writer’s Awards was succefuly launched on Saturday, at the Mbabane Library.

This an annual event which cele brates published authors and writers in the .ingdom of (swatini This event was first launched on Novem ber , last year, at the 6ibane 6ami +otel ,t was attended by cooperate personalities, successful influencers, authors, aspiring writers and the public at large

The launch was opened with prayer by the programme director, Professor 6habangu, Must after pm

+e called on stage *ospel artist /wa]i *ule, who warmed the crowd with two songs Nota ble faces in attendance includ ed former T9 Personality 6iphesihle NNonyane,Nathi

*ule and -umbo .humalo

There were two other per formances that spiced up the launch namely, $nticlocN wise and comedian 'iamond

Excellence

The 6ecretary of the awards, ThandeNa 6iyaya tooN to the podium and gave a bacNground of the awards ³ Our theme this year is µ&elebrating ([cellence in :riting¶, our mission is to appreciate, acNnowl edge and honour authors in both official languages, as this motivates them to Neep doing on impressive Mob of positively impacting people¶s lives and changing societies through words,´ shared 6iyaya 6he also went on to share that the vision of the awards, is to create a platform for socialising, celebrate writing and to initiate the spirit or culture of reading within natives with core belief that an educated nation is liNely to progress on distinguishable prospects

The Public Relations Officer( PRO) 6abelo 0athunMwa elaborated on the registration process and said ³&ommencement of the registration pro cess started on 6atur day and will be closed on 6eptember this year ´

+e went on to say that every au thor will be able to nominate him or herself or be nominated by reg istering on the website, by filling in the necessary details which include name, surname, email,phone number and also a brief portfolio on his or her worN

+e further shared that every writer or published author is allowed to par ticipant on the writer¶s awards and he or she will be nominated upon being previewed for eligibility on facets of publication and having a reputable personality in authorship

The voting will start on the 1st of October until the day of the awards hosting which is on November 26. The voting system will professionally be conducted through SMS’s and bulk voting from Eswatini MTN and Eswatini Mobile. Upon successful

registration and being nominated, the participant will be requested to provide a Professional picture of him or her so to be put on a poster with voting codes forboth local network providers. “We believe in transparency of this voting system as the public who reads participants “Work determines the winner on each category by voting for their favourite author. Every shortlisted author can canvass and ask people to vote for him or herself, there are no restrictions on that concern,” said Dlamini. He concluded by sharing that besides getting certificates and trophies of appreciation, the winners of each category will get money not beyond E 1000.00 and a

Pics) A section of the crowd. (INSET) The Founder Clement Dlamini thanking the attendees for the support at the launch.(Courtesy

A section of the crowd captured dancing performance. to Anticlockwise’s

Poet Lawrance Mdluli gave a splendid perfomance at the launch.

Nathi Gule also danced Anticlockwise’s performance the launch. to at