THE  NOMA AWARD FOR 
PUBLISHING IN AFRICA 2008

  Founder: Shoichi Noma †

The annual $10,000 Noma Award is open to African writers and scholars whose work is published in Africa, rather than outside. The spirit within which the Award is given is to encourage and reward genuinely autonomous African publishers, and African writers. An impartial committee chaired by Mr. Walter Bgoya, comprising African scholars and book experts, and representatives of the international book community, is entrusted with the selection of the annual prize. The jury is assisted by independent opinion and assessments from a large and distinguished pool of subject specialists from throughout the world, including many in Africa.

Entry conditions for the 2008 Award:

1. The Noma Award will be given for an outstanding new book in any of these three categories:

(i) scholarly or academic;

(ii) books for children;

(iii) literature and creative writing (including fiction, drama, poetry, and essays on African literature).

2. Any original work in any of the indigenous or official languages of Africa will be eligible for consideration. Translations, anthologies, revised editions, edited collections, and similar compilations will not be eligible.

3. The Award is open to any author who is indigenous to Africa, but entries must be submitted through African-domiciled publishers.

4. Works submitted must have been published (regardless of its place of manufacture) by a publisher domiciled on the African continent or its offshore islands.

5. Publishers may submit a maximum number of three titles, at the publisher’s choice between the three eligible categories i.e. irrespective of the category, but with an overall maximum of three titles.

6. Publishers must be fully autonomous African publishers, within the spirit of the Award.

7. Books entered for the prize must be first published in Africa, and the African publisher submitting the entry must hold the original rights if also published, or co-published, elsewhere and/or outside Africa.

8. Entries must be works first published between 1 January and 31 December, 2007. Published works only will qualify for consideration and unpublished manuscripts will not be eligible. (The administrators of the Award cannot accept responsibility for the return of manuscripts forwarded despite this rule.)

9. Quality of content will be the overriding criterion. Critical attention will also be given to standards of production, which must reach an acceptable level in the opinion of the jury.

10. In general, the extent of any book submitted should be a minimum of 48 pages, but in certain categories of creative writing and children’s literature, books of shorter length may be considered.

11.  Six non-returnable copies of a published work must be submitted and should be accompanied by an entry form, providing a short résumé of the work and an outline justifying its submission.

• publishers completing entry forms downloaded from email or the Web site: email or post one copy of the form in advance, and one copy with the books

• publishers completing entry forms from hard copies mailed: mail the top (white) copy of the entry form separately; mail the second (yellow) copy together with six copies of the title submitted; retain the third (green) copy.

Entry forms and books should be sent to:

The Noma Award Secretariat, PO Box 128, Witney, Oxon OX8 5XU, UK

The street address for courier deliveries is:

The Noma Award Secretariat, Causeway Cottage, Minster Lovell, Witney, Oxon OX29 ORN, UK

12. The deadline for receipt of submissions is 31 March 2008. Publishers should however submit entries as soon as possible in advance of this date. In exceptional circumstances proofs of a book are acceptable for a content evaluation, but a final assessment will not be possible unless finished copies reach the Secretariat in time for the meeting of the Managing Committee (the Jury) in 2008.

13.  The decisions of the Noma Award Managing Committee will be final and no correspondence will be entered into in connection with the Award.

For entry forms and further information:
The Noma Award Secretariat, PO Box 128, Witney, Oxon OX8 5XU, UK
Telephone: +44-(0)1993-775235 Fax: +44-(0)1993-709265
Email: maryljay@aol.com

online entry forms: » English  » Français

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