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ADJUDICATION
OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN LITERARY AWARDS FINALISED
The
Adjudication Panel of the South African Literary Awards (SALA), the
country’s premier awards celebrating our rich and diverse literary
heritage, has finalised the process of evaluating and assessing
entries for the 2011 edition. Awards will be presented at a ceremony
to be held on the 8th December 2011.
The nine
(9) SALA categories are:
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The
Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award For Writing in African Languages
in South Africa,
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The
Sello K. Duiker Memorial Literary Award,
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Literary
Journalism Award,
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Literary
Translators Award,
-
Posthumous
Literary Award,
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Lifetime
Achievement Literary Award
-
Poetry
Award
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First-time
Published Author Award and
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Chairperson’s
Award
In
selecting the winning submission the panel bases its choice on
language and style, literary merit, appeal in terms of being South
African, universal and transcending time, enhancing social cohesion
and promoting nation building and creativity in terms of innovation,
creative use and blending of genre and appropriate application of
writing skills.
Dr.
Gomolemo Mokae, award winning writer, prominent medical practitioner
and chairperson of the Adjudication Panel, said the adjudication
process was comprehensive and underpinned by robust debate among the
panelists, because of the quality of submissions as well as the
variety of the entries.“This was a fair and rigorous process and the
submissions were broadly representative of all languages in the
country. Moreover, the quality of submissions on the sixth (6th) year
of the competition has improved tremendously.”
Professor
Zodwa Motsa, chairperson of the SALA Advisory Board and Professor of
literature and linguistics, concurs, “Adjudicators are not fixated
with their own preferences. Ours is a fair, honest and engaging
process where we look at all the literary works submitted objectively.
We also reward innovation of those writers breaking new ground”.
Raks
Morakabe Seakhoa, the SALA Project Director, says the Awards are a
complementary facet of initiatives that promote the culture of
reading, writing and learning within the country.
Says Seakhoa: “Our primary aim is to take South Africa’s
literary heritage to greater heights. Through SALA, we contribute to
the nourishment of the minds of the South African society. The
celebration of our rich and diverse literary culture is crucial to the
fundamental transformation project of the country’s socio-economic,
political and cultural landscape”.
For more
information, please contact:
Tel:
011-791 3585/791 4102
Fax: 086
605 3642
Email:
info@writeassociates.co.za
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