We are proud to present the finalists for the inaugural The Continent/Democracy in Africa Comment Prize!
After receiving an incredible 342 pitches, our judging panel chose a shortlist of eight brilliant comment pieces, which are published here for the very first time.
To download the special issue, click here.
The judges will choose their best entry, whose author will win a $500 prize and be republished by newspapers across Africa, including Premium Times and the Mail & Guardian. But you get to vote too: the winner of the readers’ choice award also receives a $500 prize, so choose carefully!
Vote for your favourite, most interesting and/or most thought-provoking piece here: commentprize.thecontinent.org.
The special issue includes the following brilliant pieces:
■ Nairobi and the death of quiet, by Caroline Warui (p. 4)
■ Is Ghana tired of democracy? By Victor Nsoh Azure (p. 6)
■ I am not my ancestors’ wildest dreams, I am their reality, by Billy Hani (p. 8)
■ How the pandemic can shake up African airlines, by Daniel Odido (p. 10)
■ The church must start taking sexual abuse seriously, by Clariss Rufaro Masiya (p. 12)
■ The dangerous myth of the ‘prosperity gospel’, by Andile Zulu (p. 14)
■ The tragedy of illegal abortion in Lesotho, by Ramorara Joyce (p. 16)
■ Vaccines and the infertility myth, by Athuman Luchi (p. 18)
The Prize for Comment Writing is funded from a £10,000 prize that was awarded to Professor Nic Cheeseman and Dr Susan Dodsworth, University of Birmingham, Professor Gabrielle Lynch, University of Warwick, and Professor Justin Willis, University of Durham by the Economic and Social Research Council of the UK to support excellence in research that has real-world impact.
