Etisalat Nigeria has started accepting entries for the 2015 edition of its prize for literature. Speaking last Thursday at a press conference where the announcement was made and judges of the prize also unveiled, Chief Executive Officer of Etisalat Nigeria, Matthew Willsher, said that the company’s key values, passion for excellence and empowerment, run through its prize for literature.
“At Etisalat, we see the growth of culture, literature in Africa has something we can contribute to. That’s why the project revolves round giving first time writers the opportunity to emerge and nurturing them.”
He added that the same applies to publishers as Etisalat is equally interested in aiding the growth of Africa’s publishing industry.
Willsher, who also highlighted the successes of the prize’s first two editions, reiterated that Etisalat will not relent in searching for excellence and that successful businesses are the ones that innovate and help empower people.
He thereafter disclosed that the three judges for this year’s prize areZukiswa Wanner from Kenya, Molara Wood from Ghana and Ato Quayson, a Ghanaian Professor of English at the University of Toronto, Canada. He will chair the jury.
Speaking at the occasion, Wanner, a writer and editor commended Etisalat for being revolutionary by instituting the prize. “Nobody has been revolutionary enough to do a Pan-African prize until Etisalat started. My hope is that one of our universities will be revolutionary enough so that the fellowship [that comes with winning the prize at University of East Anglia] can be in Africa.”
Wood, a writer, critic, editor and ex-presidential aide, also commended Etisalat for the initiative. “Etisalat is doing a huge deal in helping to promote and carry African stories in its multiplicity. I really look forward to being part of a process whereby the Etisalat Prize for Literature can be the next standard, or indeed the standard that others on the other continents look to in determining what gets put on the platform when it comes to creative production from Africa.
“I’ll also like to commend Etisalat for looking inward in creating its judging panel because that way, we can have a more robust appreciation of entries. I’m really looking forward to the process, I’m looking forward to the stories bearing in mind that it is a prize that is given for the first book of fiction because that alone also helps very well to drive production locally and it also contributes to this big conversation that we are having all over the African continent about the nature of art, about the nature of literature and how that correlates with the other art forms. This is going to be very splendid,” she said.
The third judge, Professor Quayson, couldn’t make it to the event.
One of the patrons, Professor Kole Omotoso, said that though only about four countries on the continent recognise May 25 as African Day, the fact that attention was paid to the book that won the Etisalat Prize for Literature last year in South Africa, was an affirmation of the African Day for him. The other patrons are Ama Ata-Aidoo, Dele Olojede, Ellah Allfrey, Margaret Busby and Zakes Mda.
Also speaking, Director, Brands and Experience, Etisalat, Enitan Denloye said that the prize stands for identifying new talents and nurturing them to the stage where they will be able to express themselves fully.
Zimbabwe’s NoViolet Bulawayo won the maiden edition of the Pan- African prize with her debut novel, ‘We Need New Names’, while Songeziwe Mahlangu, a South African, won the second edition with his novel, ‘Penumbra.’
The prize winner receives a cash prize of £15,000 in addition to a fellowship at the prestigious University of East Anglia under the mentorship of the award-winning author, Professor Giles Foden.
The winner will also receive a sponsored three-city book tour while 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.
The prize accepts submitted works which must be a writer’s first work of fiction over 30,000 words, and published within the last 24 months. The deadline for the submission of entries is August 2015.
The Etisalat Prize will also launch the online based flash fiction prize later in the year to engage the rising stars of fiction.