Top South African writers win big in the UJ Prize literary competition

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/Arts Editor

This year, one of the most prestigious literary contest in the country, was fiercely fought for to the extent that even the high powered panel of judges has publicly acknowledge the enormity of the task. In other words this task was not a walk in the park. But at the end of the day there has to be a winner, and the judges have reached their verdict, and no further correspondence will be entertained.

Here we are talking about the prestigious University of Johannesburg Prize for South African Writing (UJ Prize).

“The University of Johannesburg Prize for South African Writing (UJ Prize) in English is pleased to announce the winners for both the Debut and the Main Prize categories. This follows a rigorous adjudication process, in which six judges drawn from three universities evaluated a wide range of books published in 2024. This year’s adjudication panel was comprised of the following members:  Prof Ronit Frenkel (Chair), University of Johannesburg, Prof Sikhumbuzo Mngadi, University of Johannesburg, Prof Marzia Milazzo, University of Johannesburg, Prof Rebecca Fasselt, University of Pretoria, Prof Grace Musila, University of the Witwatersrand and Prof Nedine Moonsamy, University of Johannesburg.

The UJ Prize is open to published South African works in English. This has been an extraordinary year for the prize, as reflected in the selection of winners. The winners have been selected from a large number of remarkable entries in both categories. Commenting on the process, Prof Ronit Frenkel, Chair of the Judges, remarked, “It has been a very difficult year to assess the entries as we had so many excellent choices from both very well-known authors and new voices. As usual, we have read across genres to select our winners.” The 2025 UJ Prize winners for books published in 2024 are as follows:

Debut Prize Winner:

• Weeping Becomes a River by Siphokazi Jonas

Jonas’s remarkable book impressed the judges, earning its place as one of the very few poetry collections to win the prize, which is open to all literary genres.  Reflecting on the debut prize winner, Frenkel said, “Our debut winner introduces audiences to a new voice in South African poetry, who we believe is a rising star in the literary world.”

Main Prize Winners

The judges noted the challenging task of adjudicating the main prize, which was closely contested. Subsequently, the following titles have been named joint winners: 

•                     The Comrade’s Wife by Barbara Boswell

•                     The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil by Shubnum Khan

“The joint main prize-winning texts this year are both novels that reflect South Africa’s extraordinary range with the genre, spanning realism to the gothic, in contemporary form,” said Frenkel. Congratulations to the winners and the nominees. The joint-winners of the Main Prize will each receive prize money of R75,000.00, and the Debut Prize will receive R45,000.00. All the top three nominees in the respective categories will receive certificates of recognition. Congratulations to the winners and the nominees,” UJ announced yesterday, September 30, 2025.

In the case of Boswell, this is the second literary feat she has achieved this year as she also as the Department of English Literary Studies Associate Professor at University of Cape Town has won the National Arts and Culture Awards Prize for Outstanding Book, Fiction (2025) for the novel, The Comrade’s Wife. However this latest award is the second she has won in this competition, having first won the Debut Prize for her novel Grace (Modjaji Books).