Announcing the Gerald Kraak Award 2016 judging panel

The Jacana Literary Foundation and the Other Foundation are thrilled to announce the judges of the Gerald Kraak Award and Anthology. They are distinguished gender activist Sisonke Msimang (chair), prominent social and political analyst Eusebius McKaiser and leading African feminist Sylvia Tamale. We couldn’t think of a more fitting triad to adjudicate the inaugural award. 

Submissions are open until 31 July 2016 to written and photographic work from all over Africa on the topics of gender, human rights and sexuality. The panel will be seeking pieces which promote new understandings of and insights into these issues on our continent.

click here to enter

The Gerald Kraak Award 2016 judging panel

Only the very best work submitted will be longlisted and published in the anthology, with the winners to be announced at a 2017 award ceremony, attended by the authors of the top three submissions. The overall winner will receive a cash prize of R25 000.

The publication will be an all-Africa affair, and Jacana Media in South Africa will be co-publishing with the following: Africa World Press (Ethiopia), Amalion (Senegal), FEMRITE (Uganda), Gadsdon Books (Zambia), Kwani (Kenya), Weaver Press (Zimbabwe) and Wordweaver (Namibia). 

For more information or to submit your work, visit www.jacana.co.za.

Sisonke Msimang is a writer and a social commentator who focuses on money, power and sex. In addition to writing a regular column for the Daily Maverick, Sisonke’s work has appeared in the New York Times, The Huffington Post and the Christian Science Monitor. 

Before turning to writing, Sisonke served as the head of policy and advocacy for Sonke Gender Justice, a human rights non-profit organisation in South Africa. Prior to that she was the Executive Director of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa. Sisonke has also done several stints at the United Nations, working first for the UN Population Fund in South Africa, then for the UN Women’s Fund (UNIFEM) in New York and then helping to support an initiative of then UN Secretary General Kofi Anan – the SG’s Task Force on Women, Girls and HIV and AIDS in Southern Africa. 

Sisonke was a Ruth First Fellow in 2015, an Aspen New Voices Fellow in 2014 and a Yale World Fellow in 2012. She serves on the board of directors of the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC) and on the Board of Trustees of the Graça Machel Trust.

Eusebius McKaiser is a South African political analyst, broadcaster, facilitator, author, and public speaker, based in Johannesburg. 

He has given talks and facilitated workshops that address critical themes such as unearned privilege, unconscious bias, inclusive corporate cultures, and how to reduce or eliminate familiar South African sources of conflict: racial prejudice, gender inequity, and various other forms of discrimination that play out in society. He is a vociferous supporter of LGBT rights.

His political analysis, keynote speaking, and transformation work flow, partly, from McKaiser’s work as an author and broadcaster. He has written three books – A Bantu in My Bathroom, Could I Vote DA? and Run, Racist, Run and his columns have appeared in New York Times, Guardian, BBCmagazines, and all major South African papers. His writing engages social and political themes, and identity politics.

Professor Sylvia Tamale is a leading African feminist who teaches law at Makerere University in Uganda. 

Her research interests include “Gender, Law & Sexuality”, “Women in Politics” and “Feminist Jurisprudence.” Prof. Tamale has published extensively in these and other areas, and has served as Visiting Professor in several academic institutions globally and on several international human rights boards. 

She was the first female dean at the School of Law at Makerere. Prof. Tamale holds a Bachelor of Law from Makerere University, a Masters in Law from Harvard Law School and a PhD in Sociology and Feminist Studies from the University of Minnesota.
Closing date: 31 July 2016

Shortlist announced: December 2016

Submit to Jacana Media by following this link: http://www.jacana.co.za/awards/the-gerald-kraak-award-and-anthology-entry-form

Enquiries can be directed to awards@jacana.co.za

For up-to-date information on the authors, the books and related events:
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