2015 Etisalat Prize: Presenting the Judges
Members of the judging panel for the 2015 Etisalat Prize for Literature have been announced.
The judging panel will be chaired by Professor Ato Quayson a Professor of English and inaugural Director of the Centre for Diaspora Studies at the University of Toronto,Canada. Other members of panel are:writer, blogger, journalist, critic and editor, Molara Wood and editor and author of The Madam and Men of the South, Zukiswa Wanner.
On the choice of judges for the prize, Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Matthew Willsher said Etisalat carried out extensive research and consultation in deciding the choice of judges for this year. He also expressed the belief that the selected judges will bring their experience to bear on the Etisalat Prize for Literature. The judges, he added, will have the responsibility to develop the long list of nine novels as well as a shortlist of three novels before finally selecting a winner. Submission of entries are ongoing, having opened June 18 and closes on August 27.
Designed to foster writing in Africa, bring exciting new African writers to the attention of a wider audience, and promote a reading culture within the continent while also telling the African story, the prize is currently on its third edition.
The winner will receive a cash prize of £15,000 in addition to a fellowship at the prestigious University of East Anglia, UK under the mentorship of the award-winning author, Professor Giles Foden. The winner will also enjoy a sponsored three-city book tour. In addition, the two other shortlisted writers will receive a sponsored two-city book tour to promote their books. The Etisalat Prize for Literature also supports publishers by purchasing 1000 copies of the shortlisted books for distribution within the continent.
This prize accepts submitted works which must be a writer’s first work of fiction with over 30,000 words, and published within the last 24 months. The Etisalat Prize will also launch the online based flash fiction prize later in the year to engage the rising stars of fiction.