Submissions are now open to the 2024 UJ Prize for South African Writing. If you are a publisher who published South African books in 2023, consider submitting for this prestigious award. The deadline is February 29, 2024.

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) Prize for South African Writing, also known as the UJ Prize, was established in 2006 for South African writers regardless of whether they have connection with the university or not. The UJ Prize is open to books published in English language and has two categories: the Main Prize and the Debut Prize. The Main Prize winner receives R75,000, while the Debut Prize winner receives R35,000.

The UJ Prize is not genre specific – publishers can submit novels, short story collections, volumes of poetry, biographies or any form of creative fiction and non-fiction books. The intention is to be as inclusive as possible and open opportunities to a wide variety of books with literary merit.

The 2023 winners were C.A. Davids (Main Prize) with How to Be a Revolutionary (2022) and Pulane Mlilo Mpondo (Debut Prize) with Things My Mother Left Me (2022). Previous winners include Mandla Langa, Jacob Dlamini, Rešoketšwe Manenzhe, Gabeba Baderoon, and Zakes Mda, among others.

Submission Guidelines:

  • Only books published in 2023 (January 1 to December 31, 2023) may be entered.
  • The UJ Prize does not accept entries that are:
    • Unpublished manuscripts or self-published books
    • Books translated into English by someone other than the author
    • Not written by a South African author
    • Not published during the 2023 calendar year
  • Publishers must specify whether they are entering for the Main Prize or the Debut Prize.
  • Publishers are required to submit seven copies of each title that they want to enter for the award along with the attached UJ Prize Entry Form. The UJ Prize Entry Form must be signed by both the publisher and the author and enclosed in the same package with the submitted books.
  • Publishers should send all submissions to the address below by courier:
    • Ms Dikeledi Seranyane
      University of Johannesburg
      English Department
      B-Ring 713
      Kingsway Road
      Auckland Park
      Johannesburg
      Tel. 011-5592063

Deadline: February 29, 2024

The shortlist will be announced no later than August 31, 2024. Good luck to all authors!