Africa! Submissions are open for the Gerald Kraak Award and Anthology

Gerald Kraak Award and Anthology: An award and anthology on the topics of gender, human rights and sexuality, for writers and photographers across Africa.

Submissions open from 24 May 2018 to 31 August 2018

Enter here!

Gerald Kraak (1956–2014) was a passionate champion of social justice, an anti-apartheid activist and the head of the Atlantic Philanthropies’ Reconciliation and Human Rights Programme in South Africa. He authored the European Union Literary Award-winning Ice in the Lungs (Jacana, 2005), which explores South African politics, and directed a documentary on gay conscripts in the apartheid army. He is remembered for being kind and generous, delightfully irreverent and deeply committed to realising an equal and just society for all.

Created in honour of his extraordinary legacy, this new annual award is made possible in partnership with The Other Foundation, and will advance Gerald’s contribution to building a society that is safe and welcoming to all. The unique and vital anthology will feature English language writing and photography from and about Africa. Exceptional works which explore, interrogate and celebrate the topics of gender, sexuality and human rights will be longlisted and published in a Granta-like anthology. The overall winner is awarded a cash prize.

Rather than general discussions of these subjects, the judging panel will select pieces which engage with gender and sexuality in ways that promote new insights into human rights matters on our continent.

Only the very best work submitted will be shortlisted and published in an anthology, with the winners to be announced at a 2019 award ceremony, hosted by The Other Foundation and attended by the authors of the top three submissions. The overall winner will receive a cash prize of R25 000.

Our aim is to ensure that the anthology and information about the award will be disseminated as widely as possible throughout the African continent. To this end, Africa World Press (Ethiopia), Amalion (Senegal), FEMRITE (Uganda), Kwani (Kenya), Weaver Press (Zimbabwe) and Wordweaver (Namibia) will be associated with the project.

About The Other Foundation: The Other Foundation is an African Trust that gathers support for those who are working to protect and advance the rights, wellbeing and social inclusion of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities –and gives support in a smart way that helps groups to work better for lasting change. To learn more, please visit www.theotherfoundation.org

About The Jacana Literary Foundation: The Jacana Literary Foundation (JLF) is a not-for-profit organisation which seeks to promote and foster writing excellence from Africa through a number of initiatives. By securing funding for key projects, the JLF aims to publish literature that might not otherwise see publication for purely commercial reasons. This allows the JLF’s publishing partner, Jacana Media, to produce literature which supports the concept of bibliodiversity. We believe that it is through the reading and writing of local creative works that the truths of our lives are best told.

About the award

Submissions must be in English and from Africa.

The winner is awarded R 25,000 and publication by Jacana Media and its publishing partners.

The project is funded by The Other Foundation, and administered by the Jacana Literary Foundation (JLF).

Rules

Submissions will be open from 24 May 2018 to 31 August 2018.

The subject matter of the work must relate to gender, human rights and/or sexuality in Africa.

Works which fall within one of the following categories are accepted:

fiction
non-fiction
poetry
photography/photographic essays
journalism/magazine reporting
social media/blog writings and contributions

Entries must have been created by a citizen of an African country. Written submissions must be in English.

Up to three entries are permitted per author, across categories. Each entry must be submitted on a separate electronic entry form.

Entries are submitted in the following categories:

Fiction
Non-fiction
Poetry
Photography

Please number your pages, use a font size of 12, Times New Roman and 1.5 spacing (avoid unnecessary formatting, such as borders).

Materials must not exceed 15 000 words or 8 images.

Images must be 300 dpi high resolution.

Images will be published in an image section on matte art paper and not in the body of the text.

We are looking for work which tells a story or illustrates an idea. If one photograph achieves this, then we welcome the submission of that single image. It is, however, more likely to be accomplished through a collection of photographs or a photographic essay.

We accept unpublished as well as previously published works.

No handwritten or hard copy entries can be considered. Submissions must be made via the online portal.

Entrants’ name should not be included on the manuscript being submitted, as the award is judged blind and the author remains anonymous until the shortlist has been selected.

There is an opportunity to use a pseudonym should one be required.

Intertextuality and references must be appropriately attributed and permissions from copyright holders obtained. This includes poems; song lyrics; quotes and excerpts from books, newspapers, magazines, journals; and reproductions of artwork, photographs or other forms.

Submissions are considered to implicitly indicate the entrant’s permission for their work to be published in the anthology, if shortlisted, for no payment or royalty.