Resoketswe Manenzhe and Frances Ogamba are the winners of the 2019 Writivism Short Story Prize and the Koffi Addo Creative Nonfiction Prize respectively.
Established in 2012 by Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire, Naseemah Mohamed and Kyomuhendo A Ateenyi of the Centre for African Cultural Excellence in Kampala, the prize is only open to writers living on the continent. The initiative to grow and award writing on the continent is anchored on two prizes; the Writivism Short Story Prize (fiction) and the Koffi Addo Creative Nonfiction Prize.
The longlists for the two prizes this year were announced on March 25th before the shortlists were announced on May 20th, 2019. The winners of the two prizes have been announced at the end of the just-concluded Writivism Festival. The Writivism Short Story Prize winner was selected from 387 entries by a team of three judges chaired by Ugandan novelist and short story writer, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi. The other judges were Zimbabwean writer and editor, Emmanuel Sigauke and Ghanaian publisher, blogger and activist, Kinna Likimani.
The winning story is “Maserumo” by South African writer, Resoketswe Manenzhe, a PhD student with the chemical engineering department at the University of Cape Town. Her poems and short stories have appeared in online magazines and journals.
On the other hand, the Koffi Addo Creative Nonfiction Prize named after Nana Koffi Addo was won by Nigerian writer Frances Ogamba for her story “The Valley of Memories.” She was also shortlisted for this year’s Writivism Short Story Prize, for her story “Ghana Boy.” The selection was made from 117 entries by a team of three judges chaired by Ghanaian novelist Ayesha Harruna Attah. The other judges are South African novelist, memoirist, poet and short story writer, Karen Jennings and Kenyan academic Dr Christopher Ouma.