The Golden Baobab Prize Announces 2014 Winners

Accra, Ghana, November 13, 2014 - We are proud to announce the winners of the 2014 Golden Baobab Prizes:

• Portia Dery, from Ghana wins the Golden Baobab Prize for Picture Books with her story, Grandma’s List.
• Mary Ononokpono, from Nigeria, wins the Golden Baobab Prize for Early Chapter Books for her story, Talulah the Time Traveler.
• Xanele Puren, from South Africa, wins the inaugural Golden Baobab Prize for Illustrators. The Golden Baobab Prize for Illustrators is the biggest and most prestigious prize committed to discovering, nurturing and celebrating talented African illustrators of children’s stories.

The 2014 Golden Baobab Prizes for Literature and Illustration received nearly 300 submissions from writers and illustrators across Africa. The longlist for the literature prizes was announced early September and showcased 11 stories, selected from 6 African countries. The shortlist followed late October with 11 stories from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The illustration prizes unveiled 3 shortlisted artists; 2 from South Africa and 1 from Ghana. This year’s prize winners represent three countries: Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa.

This is the sixth year of the Golden Baobab Prizes, which were established in July 2008 to inspire the creation of enthralling, culturally relevant African children’s stories by African writers. “We are proud of the contribution we are making to the children’s literature and illustration world and are actively searching for exciting partnerships to expand our reach and impact across Africa. We are seeking major corporate partnerships by our next prize season to further propel our vision of making the heads of children across Africa beautiful places for them to live!” says the Executive Director of Golden Baobab.

Today, the Prizes offer $20,000 in monetary awards, publishing opportunities for winners of the Picture Book and Early Chapter Book Prizes, and the winner of the Illustration prize attends a Golden Baobab award ceremony and a traveling exhibition of artist’s illustrations.

Judges for the 2014 Golden Baobab Prizes are Summer Edward, Anansesem Caribbean Children's Literature Ezine founder and editor, Nancy Drost, Seasoned international educator, Kinna Likimani, Mbaasem Foundation board member and celebrated book critic, Doreen Baingana, Multiple award-winning Ugandan author and former chairperson FEMRITE, Nonikiwe Mashologu, African children’s literature critic, Kanengo Diallo, 13-year old Tanzanian winner of the 2013 Golden Baobab Prize for Rising Writers, Paul O. Zelinsky, International Award-winning American Illustrator and Writer and Caldecott Medalist, Akua Peprah, Early Childhood Educator and Kofi Kokua Asante Anyimadu, 8-year old Ghanaian book lover.

Last year’s winners of the Golden Baobab Prizes were Liza Esterhuyse and Karen Hurt from South Africa and Kanengo Rebecca Diallo from Tanzania.

Accra, Thursday, 11^th September – The Golden Baobab Prizes for African children’s literature have revealed the 14 stories that made it onto their longlist for 2014.

Selected from a total of 210 stories received from 13 countries across the continent, this longlist showcases some of the finest African writers and African children’s stories today. With four writers each, Ghana and South Africa are the four most represented nationalities on the longlist. Other countries that had writers on the list were Egypt, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Nigeria. The longlist represents stories submitted to the Golden Baobab Prize for Picture Books and the Golden Baobab Prize for Early Chapter Books. No story from the Golden Baobab Prize for Rising Writers made it onto the 2014 longlist.

Speaking on the prizes’ evaluation and selection processes, the Prize Coordinator, Delali Kumapley commented, “Stories submitted to the Golden Baobab Prizes go through an incredibly exhaustive evaluation process. We have a team of about thirty people from all over Africa and around the world that read and score each story. A winning story for the Golden Baobab Prizes gets evaluated at most six times by different readers. This year’s longlist represents a very strong crop of African writers.”

Now in its sixth year, the Golden Baobab Prizes inspire the creation of enthralling African children’s stories by African writers. To date, the prizes have received nearly 2000 stories from all over Africa. In 2013, to increase its support of the African children’s literature industry, the organization, Golden Baobab, introduced the brand new Golden Baobab Prizes for African Illustrators. This prize will complement Golden Baobab's efforts in literature by discovering and celebrating Africa’s most exciting artists and illustrators who are creating images to tell stories to children.

According to the Executive Director for Golden Baobab, Deborah Ahenkorah, “Golden Baobab is dedicated to the mission of championing the finest African stories for children and celebrating the people who create these stories. In 2014, we dedicated $20,000 to our prizes alone. We hope to do even more. We are wildly encouraged by the promise we see in the 2014 longlist.”

The shortlist for the Golden Baobab Prizes for African literature will be announced on 30^th October, 2014. The winners for the Golden Baobab Prizes for Literature as well as the winners of Golden Baobab Prizes for Illustrators will be announced on 13^th November, 2014.

Below are the titles and writers on the 2014 longlist:

Early Chapter Book Prize

Ricky Dankwa Ansong (Ghana) – Kweku Ananse: The Tale of the Wolf and the Moon

Jayne Bauling (South Africa) – The Saturday Dress

Mamle Wolo (Ghana) – Flying through Water

Mary Okon Ononokpono (Nigeria) – Talulah the Time Traveller

Bontle Senne (South Africa) – The Monster at Midnight

Hillary Molenje Namunyu (Kenya) – Teddy Mapesa and the Missing Cash

Dina Mousa (Egypt) – The Sunbird and Fatuma

Picture Book Prize

Katherine Graham (South Africa) – The Lemon Tree

Aleya Kassam (Kenya) – The Jacaranda Tree

Kwame Aidoo (Ghana) – The Tale of Busy Body Bee

Mandy Collins (South Africa) – There is a Hyena in my Kitchen

Mike Mware (Zimbabwe) – The Big Ball

Shaleen Keshavjee-Gulam (Kenya) – Malaika’s Magical Kiosk

Portia Dery (Ghana) – Grandma’s List

About the Golden Baobab Prizes

The Golden Baobab Prizes for literature were established in July 2008 to inspire the creation of enthralling African children’s stories by African writers. The Prizes invite entries of unpublished stories written by African citizens irrespective of age, race, or country of origin. The prizes have expanded to include The Golden Baobab Prizes for Illustrations to discover, nurture and celebrate African illustrators of children’s stories. The Prizes are organized by Golden Baobab, a Ghana-based pan African social enterprise dedicated to supporting African writers and illustrators to create winning African children’s books. The organization’s Advisory Board includes renowned authors Ama Ata Aidoo and Maya Ajmera. Golden Baobab is proudly supported by The African Library Project.

For further information, please contact Delali Kumapley on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Telephone number: +233 505-298-941

The Golden Baobab Prize Announces 2014 Shortlist

Accra, Ghana, November 3rd, 2016- We are delighted to announce the shortlist for the 2014 Golden Baobab Prizes for African Children's Literature.

The shortlisted writers are:

The Golden Baobab Prize for Picture Books

• Portia Dery (Ghana) – Grandma’s List
• Shaleen Keshavjee-Gulam (Kenya) – Malaika’s Magical Kiosk
• Mandy Collins (South Africa) – There is a Hyena in my Kitchen
• Mike Mware (Zimbabwe) – The Big Ball

The Golden Baobab Prize for Early Chapter Books

• Bontle Senne (South Africa) – The Monster at Midnight
• Mamle Wolo (Ghana) – Flying through Water
• Mary Okon Ononokpono (Nigeria) – Talulah the Time Traveller
• Hillary Molenje Namunyu (Kenya) – Teddy Mapesa and the Missing Cash
• Jayne Bauling (South Africa) – The Saturday Dress

No stories from the Golden Baobab Prize for Rising Writers made it onto this year's shortlist. The winners of the 2014 Golden Baobab Prizes for Literature as well as the winners and shortlist for the Golden Baobab Prizes for Illustrators will be announced on November 13, 2014. A hearty congratulations to all writers who have made it this

The Golden Baobab Prizes announce 2014 Judges

Accra, October 30, 2014 - Golden Baobab is delighted to announce the judges for the 2014 Golden Baobab Prizes. Established to inspire the writing and publishing of African stories that captivate the minds of children, the prizes award $20,000 to talented African writers and illustrators. It also offers publishing and training opportunities to its honorees.

The 2014 judges are:

• Summer Edward, Anansesem Caribbean Children's Literature Ezine founder and editor, Children’s publishing consultant
• Nancy Drost, Seasoned international educator, Golden Baobab board member
• Kinna Likimani, Mbaasem Foundation board member, Celebrated book critic (kinnareads.com)
• Doreen Baingana, Multiple award-winning Ugandan author, Former chairperson FEMRITE
• Nonikiwe Mashologu, African children’s literature critic, South African literacy activist
• Kananengo Diallo, 13-year old Tanzanian winner of the 2013 Golden Baobab Prize for Rising Writers
• Paul O. Zelinsky, International Award-winning American Illustrator and Writer, Caldecott Medalist
• Akua Peprah, Early Childhood Educator
• Kofi Kokua Asante Anyimadu, 8-year old Ghanaian book lover

“We are excited about working with our 2014 judges to discover and celebrate some of the best children’s story writers and illustrators in Africa today.” says the Executive Director of Golden Baobab. “In this 6th year of the prizes, we are proud of the contribution we are making to the children’s literature world and are actively searching for exciting partnerships to expand our reach and impact across Africa. We are seeking major corporate partnerships by our next prize season to further propel our vision of making the heads of children across Africa beautiful places for them to live!”

The winners of the Golden Baobab Prizes will be who will be announced on November 13, 2014. The shortlist will be announced on October 31, 2014.