Accra, July 26^th, 2013 – The Golden Baobab Prizes for African children’s literature has ended the call for submissions to its 5^th annual edition of the prizes. This year, Golden Baobab introduced three prizes: The Golden Baobab Prize for Early Chapter Books, The Golden Baobab Prize for Picture Books and the Golden Baobab Prize for Rising Writers, with a new emphasis on imaginative and enthralling content.

This year’s prizes received a total of 180 stories from thirteen African countries: Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Tanzania, South Africa, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Lesotho, Zambia and Sierra Leone. Nigeria and Tanzania produced the most entrants. This year’s entries bring the total number of entries submitted to the Golden Baobab Prize over the past 5 years to over 1,000 stories.

Having established itself as a prestigious platform for discovering African writers of African children’s stories, Golden Baobab is set to begin a massive appeal for corporate sponsorships that will help to increase its reach and unearth more talent.  According to the Executive Director of the organization, Deborah Ahenkorah, “Golden Baobab is looking for bold, visionary corporate partners who want to create for African children, a colorful world filled with fantasy, adventure and imagination!  African children deserve to grow up surrounded by stories that reflect their cultures and experiences. We are looking for partners who believe that this is possible.” This partnership will enable Golden Baobab bring its top stories to life as print and digital books, films, apps, games and merchandise for children.

The Golden Baobab Prizes’ evaluation process has begun and a shortlist will be announced in September 2013. The winners of the Golden Baobab Prizes will be named in the second week of November and will receive $1,000 (USD), the opportunity to publish with and receive royalties from Golden Baobab top tier African and international publishers, the benefit of increased publicity that comes with being named a Golden Baobab winner, and opportunities to attend exclusive Golden Baobab workshops. In addition to the above, the winner of the Golden Baobab Prize for Rising Writers will serve on the prestigious panel of judges for the 2014 Golden Baobab Prizes, bringing a critical young perspective to the evaluation process.

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About The Golden Baobab Prizes

The Golden Baobab Prizes for literature was established in July 2008 to inspire the creation of enthralling African children’s stories by gifted African writers. The Prizes invite entries of unpublished stories written by African citizens irrespective of age, race, or country of origin. 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, Patrice Nganang, Jay Heale and Maya Ajmera. Golden Baobab is proudly supported by Echoing Green, Reach for Change, The Global Fund for Children and The African Library Project.

For further information, photos or to arrange interviews, please contact: Nanama B. Acheampong via info@goldenbaobab.org

Tel: +233302 265215

Website: www.goldenbaobab.org