Rustum Kozain winner of 2007 Olive Schreiner Prize

Rustum Kozain is the winner of the 2007 Olive Schreiner Prize for his poetry collection 'This Carting Life' published in 2005 by Kwela Books & Snailpress. The judges noted that Kozain’s ‘imagery and his use of poetic lines are of an extremely sophisticated nature’, and he is to be ‘heartily congratulated on a very fine, beautiful and evocative collection that challenges and pleases in equal measure’.

Chris Thurman was chosen as the winner of the 2007 Thomas Pringle Award for Reviews for a portfolio of work that appeared in The Weekender. The adjudicators noted that ‘it is Thurman’s ability to synchronise separate elements into coherent structured response that marks his excellence as a reviewer’.

Chris Mann’s ‘Seahorse’ (published in New Contrast, Vol. 33 No 2 Winter 2005) was chosen as the winning poem of the 2007 Thomas Pringle Award for Poetry. The panel felt that Chris Mann’s poetry ’sweetens and expands our existence by evoking the beauty and holiness of life in the vast emptiness of the universe’.

Ambrose Chimbganda’s ‘Profiling the “native speaker” of English: myths and implications for ESL learning and teaching’ (published in the SAALT Journal for Language Teaching, Vol. 39, No 1 June 2005) is the winning article of the 2007 Thomas Pringle Award for articles on English Education. The committee agreed that ‘the research presented by Ambrose Chimbganda is significant in that it explores the role of English in southern African education, and identifies challenges to English language education and usage in the region’.

Award ceremonies for the winners will be held later in the year.

For more information, please contact Naomi Nkealah on 011 717 9339 (on weekdays 09:00-12:00) or at englishacademy@societies.wits.ac.za .