The 2023 award season for Afritondo Prize officially kicks off with a longlist of 15 names. The stories were selected from a pool of 350 stories and were written in response to the theme “Aliens.”

In a press statement, Confidence Uwazuruike, co-editor of Afritondo, notes that the prize is in its fourth year. Uwazuruike also said that the submission pool of 350 stories were strong. The 15 stories that made it to the list stood out.

The Prize offers a cash award of $1,000 to an unpublished work of fiction (between 3,000 and 5,000 words) by an African/Black writer. Four finalists receive $100 each. All 15 shortlisted stories will be published in an anthology this summer.

This year, the judges are Ugandan author Doreen Baingana, Ghanaian author Ayesha Harruna Attah, and Zambian-Ghanaian writer and editor Efemia Chela.They will meet in a few weeks to decide on the shortlist.

Congrats to all the longlistees. See their names below.

  1. Jenny Robson – The Sister-in-law (South Africa/Botswana)
  2. Ani Kayode Somtochukwu – Grey Is a Colour That Never Stains (Nigeria)
  3. Anonymous – The Colosseum (United States)
  4. Igbẹkẹle Salawu – The Alien Natives (Nigeria)
  5. Moses Abukutsa – Secret Stories of Koyogela Street (Kenya)
  6. Desta Haile – The Headhunter (United Kingdom)
  7. C. M. Okonkwo – I’m Taking it to the Grave (Nigeria)
  8. Charles Muhumuza – Once Boys and Girls of the Stream (Uganda)
  9. Fayssal Bensalah – Citizen Sarah (Algeria)
  10. Ayo Awoyungbo – The Man from Abeokuta (United Kingdom)
  11. Uchechi Princewill – Akachi Elevator Johnson (Nigeria)
  12. Enit’ayanfe Ayosojumi Akinsanya – The Anatomy of Flying Things (Nigeria)
  13. Lubwama Joshua – That Over Which They’d Dispute (Uganda)
  14. TZ Taruvinga – Small housing (Zimbabwe)
  15. Alex Kadiri – The Hyena and The Two-Headed Goat (Nigeria)