University of Johannesburg Prize – Wikipedia

Award

The University of Johannesburg Prize
Awarded for	Best work of creative writing
Location	Johannesburg, South Africa
Presented by	University of Johannesburg
Formerly called	RAU-Prys vir Skeppende Skryfwerk
Reward(s)	R70 000

The University of Johannesburg Prize for South African Writing, also known as the UJ Prize, is awarded annually by the University of Johannesburg (UJ) for the best creative works in each of five categories: English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Northern Sotho, and Literary Translation.^[1] There are usually two prizes, a main prize and a debut prize, in each category. The prizes are not linked to a specific genre, and each year’s prize rewards work published in the previous year.^[2] The winner of the main prize in each category receives R70 000, the winner of each debut prize receives R35 000, and the winner of the Literary Translation prize receives R50 000.^[1]

The Zulu, Northern Sotho, and Literary Translation prizes were awarded for the first time in 2021, with any work published between 2018 and 2020 eligible for entry.^[1] The Afrikaans prize has been awarded since 2001, but was previously called the RAU-Prys vir Skeppende Skyfwerk (RAU Prize for Creative Writing) and located at Rand Afrikaans University (RAU).^[3] In 2005, when RAU was merged with other institutions to establish UJ, the name of the prize was changed and an English category was introduced. Marlene van Niekerk and Willem Anker are the only writers to have won the prize thrice (each time for Afrikaans).

Prizes for South African Writing in English[edit]

Winners of the English prizes (2009-2021)

Year	Prize	Winner	Work	Genre	Ref.
2021	Main	Jacob Dlamini	Safari Nation	Non-fiction	[4]
	Debut	Rešoketšwe Manenzhe	Scatterlings	Fiction
		Jamil F. Khan	Khamr: The Making of a Waterslams	Memoir
2020	No prizes awarded				[5]
2019	Main	Gabeba Baderoon	The History of Intimacy	Poetry	[6]
	Debut	Mphuthumi Ntabeni	The Broken River Tent	Historical fiction
2018	Main	Lesego Rampolokeng	Bird-Monk Seding	Fiction	[7]
	Debut	Barbara Boswell	Grace	Fiction
2017	Main	Nthikeng Mohlele	Pleasure	Fiction	[8]
	Debut	Mohale Mashigo	The Yearning	Fiction
2016	Main	Craig Higginson	The Dream House	Fiction	[9]
	Debut	Eliza Kentridge	Signs for an Exhibition	Poetry
		Nkosinathi Sithole	Hunger Eats a Man	Fiction
2015	Main	Zakes Mda	Rachel’s Blue	Fiction	[10]
	Debut	Penny Busetto	The Story of Anna P, As Told By Herself	Fiction
2014	Main	Lauren Beukes	The Shining Girls	Fiction	[11]
	Debut	Dominique Botha	False River	Fiction
2013	Main	Ken Barris	Life Underwater	Fiction	[12]
	Debut	Steven Boykey Sidley	Entanglement	Fiction
2012	Main	Craig Higginson	The Landscape Painter	Fiction	[13]
	Debut	Terry Westby-Nunn	The Sea of Wise Insects	Fiction
2011	Main	Ivan Vladislavic	Double Negative	Fiction	[14]
	Debut	Shaida Ali	Not a Fairy Tale	Fiction
2010	Main	Imraan Coovadia	High Low In-between	Fiction	[15]
	Debut	Jacob Dlamini	Native Nostalgia	Non-fiction
2009	Main	Dalmon Galgut	The Impostor	Fiction	[16]
	Debut	Chris Marnewick	Shepherds and Butchers	Fiction

Prizes for South African Writing in Afrikaans[edit]

Prizes for Creative Writing in Zulu[edit]

Winners of the Zulu prize (2021)

Year	Prize	Winner	Work	Ref.
2021	Main	E.D.M. Sibiya	Isibusiso Nezinyembezi	[18]
	Debut	Mbusiseni Bhenya	UGovana kaGovana

Prizes for Creative Writing in Northern Sotho[edit]

Winner of the Northern Sotho prize (2021)

Year	Prize	Winner	Work	Ref.
2021	Main	Kobate John Sekele	Madimabe a Lešoko	[18]

Prizes for Literary Translation[edit]

The translation prize is awarded for the translation of a literary text from any language into any one of the official South African languages. There is no debut prize for literary translation; instead, there is a prize for the translation of a youth text.^[1][18]

Winners of the Literary Translation prizes (2021)

Year	Prize	Winner	Work	Language	Ref.
2021	Main	Michiel Heyns	Red Dog (Buys by Willem Anker)	Afrikaans to English	[18]
	Youth Text	Nathan Trantraal	Lang pad onnetoe (Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds)	English to Afrikaans

References[edit]