The full list of winners of the English Academy of Southern Africa Awards for writing have been announced.

In addition to those listed below, earlier this year Professor Chris Zithulele Mann was awarded the English Academy of Southern Africa Gold Medal for distinguished service to English over a lifetime, while Bruce Bushula was awarded the Gwen Knowles-Williams Bursary for further studies in English Education.

2018 English Academy Awards

The Sol Plaatje Prize for Translation

• Leon de Kock and Karin Schimke for Flame in the Snow: The Love Letters of Andre Brink and Ingrid Jonker

The adjudicating panel observed that De Kock and Schimke managed to translate over two hundred love letters, and were able to capture the nuances and expressions of adoration in this gripping love affair. This was done in a manner that was not lost in its English translation but which transports the reader into the gripping drama of a heated love affair but also into the political and social milieu of the nineteen-sixties in South Africa. This was most difficult due to the lyrical quality and quasi-religiosity of the correspondences in Afrikaans which are challenging to render. The translators were able to negotiate the complexities of translating these linguistic nuances with masterful dexterity, making the English translation of this collection a pleasure to read and hereby enriching the canon of English works available for study in South Africa and promoting cultural exchange.

Award presentation: 13 March 2019, English Department, Stellenbosch University

Olive Schreiner Prize – Drama

• Neil Coppen for Tin Bucket Drum

The competition’s adjudication panel was unanimous in its decision to score Tin Bucket Drum as the winning entry for the play’s ‘astounding content and contribution in breaking new ground, as well as its depth of thinking in addressing sociopolitical issues in contemporary South Africa’. The adjudication panel was also impressed by the play’s innovative use of the one-hander technique in line with Africa’s long tradition of storytelling using multimedia in a way that greatly enhanced the performability of the text.

Award presentation: 22 May 2019, Ike’s Books and Collectables, Durban

Thomas Pringle Award for Ad Hoc Reviews

• Tymon Smith

Award presentation: To be finalised

Olive Schreiner Award for Prose (two winners)

• Bronwyn Law-Viljoen for The Printmaker
• Elleke Boehmer for The Shouting in the Dark

Award presentation: 7 September 2019, Wits University Education Campus

Percy FitzPatrick Prize for Youth Literature

• Joanne MacGregor for Fault Lines

Award presentation: 7 September 2019, Wits University Education Campus