The University of Johannesburg (UJ) Prize for South African Writing, also known as the UJ Prize, is now open for submissions for books written in English and published in 2025.
The UJ Prize is open exclusively to South African authors or foreign authors who have resided in South Africa for at least six months while writing their book. The UJ Prize has two categories: the Main Prize and the Debut Prize. Publishers must specify whether they are entering for the Main Prize or the Debut Prize.
The UJ Prize is not genre-specific – publishers can submit novels, short story collections, volumes of poetry, biographies or any form of creative fiction and non-fiction books. Our intention is to be as inclusive as possible and open opportunities to a wide variety of books with literary merit. We trust our panel of judges to do a fair and thorough evaluation of submitted texts and select the best books.
The UJ Prize was established in 2006 for South African writers regardless of whether they have a connection with the university or not. The latest recipients of the prize are Barbara Boswell and Shubnum Khan, who were awarded R75,000 each, as the joint main prize winners for The Comrade’s Wife and The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil, respectively, and Siphokazi Jonas, who received R45,000 for the debut prize with her poetry collection Weeping Becomes a River. Previous winners include C.A. Davids, Mandla Langa, Jacob Dlamini, Rešoketšwe Manenzhe, Gabeba Baderoon, and Zakes Mda, among others.
Important dates
• Only books published in 2025 (January 1 to December 31 2025) may be entered
• The closing date for submissions is March 13
• The shortlist will be announced not later than September 31
Not-qualifying entries
The UJ Prize does not accept entries that are:
• Unpublished manuscripts or self-published books
• Books translated into English by someone other than the author
• Not written by a South African author or an author not resident in South Africa over the text’s construction and publication.
• Not published during the 2025 calendar year
How to submit
Publishers are required to submit six (6) copies of each title they want to enter for the award, along with the UJ Prize Entry Form. The UJ Prize Entry Form must be signed by both the publisher and the author and emailed to the UJ Prize Coordinator or enclosed in the same package with the submitted books. Publishers who wish to submit entries for the UJ prize for works published in 2025 should send their submissions to the address below:
By courier
Ms Dikeledi Seranyane
University of Johannesburg
English Department
B-Ring 713
Kingsway Road
Auckland Park
Johannesburg
Tel. 011-5592063
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