The Caine Prize for African Writing has announced its 2026 judging panel, assembling five cultural producers across disciplines, geographies, and generations to evaluate submissions closing February 27, 2026. Joining Chair of Judges Bola Mosuro, (Nigerian journalist, broadcaster, and documentary maker) are Ghanaian-American author and editor Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, Sudanese curator and Stuart Hall Foundation Executive Director Orsod Malik, South African writer and academic Siphiwo Mahala, and Ugandan-British actress, singer, composer, and playwright Sheila Atim MBE.

Prize Chair Ellah Wakatama emphasized how the selection process deliberately challenges narrow definitions of African writing. “Over the years, we have been intentional about challenging the idea that there is such a thing as a ‘Caine Prize story,'” Wakatama stated. “One of the ways we have achieved this is by assembling panels of cultural producers drawn from different disciplines, geographies, generations, and lived experiences, united by one purpose – valorising the best short stories being written today.” The result, according to Mahala, is “a kaleidoscope of contemporary African voices” rather than work conforming to external expectations about what African literature should look like.

Brew-Hammond brings editorial and authorial experience across age groups, having written the young adult novel Powder Necklace, the children’s picture book Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky, the adult novel My Parents’ Marriage, and edited Relations: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices. Malik’s curatorial work explores transnational cultural and political entanglements in historical narratives, with particular interest in relationships between social movements, aesthetics, and public education. He has developed programmes for the Stuart Hall Foundation, Black Cultural Archives, Institute of International Visual Arts, Prince Claus Fund, and British Council.

Mahala, a multi-award-winning writer working in English and isiXhosa, authored novels When a Man Cries and its isiXhosa translation Yakhal’ Indoda, short story collections including The Missing Pages (2025), plays The House of Truthand Bloke and His American Bantu, and the monograph Can Themba: The Making and Breaking of the Intellectual Tsotsi, which won Creative Non-Fiction at the 2023 South Africa Literary Awards. He is Associate Professor in the English Department at the University of Johannesburg and previously chaired the Sunday Times Literary Awards fiction panel. Atim’s film credits include The Woman King (earning a BAFTA Rising Star nomination), Doctor Strange & the Multiverse of Madness, and Mufasa, with television work including the upcoming Blade Runner 2099 and The Underground Railroad. On stage, she won the 2022 Olivier Award for Best Actress for Constellations and the 2018 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for Girl From the North Country. She also composes and writes, with several film and television projects in development.

Wakatama urged publishers to abandon preconceptions about ideal submissions as the February 27 deadline approaches. “We champion boldness – of form, perspective, genre, and themes – and we urge writers to push beyond the familiar edges of their practice,” she stated. “Bola, Nana, Orsod, Siphiwo, and Sheila are unequivocally aligned in this belief, and they are eagerly waiting for your submissions and the stories that will surprise us all.” The panel will meet in September to select five shortlisted stories, announcing them September 1, 2026, before revealing the winner at a ceremony later that month. Each shortlisted writer receives £500, while the winner receives £10,000, split 70-30 between author and translator for works in translation. The shortlisted stories will appear in the official Caine Prize anthology alongside work from the spring workshop programme.