EduArt Awards For Cameroonian Literature in English

EduART Awards for Literature Launched

May 9, 2007: EduART Inc has launched three annual awards for literature written in English by cameroonians and published in Cameroon or any African country. These awards are:

Victor E. Musinga Award for Drama
Jane and Rufus Blanshard Award for fiction and
Bate Besong Award for Poetry

There are at present no annual awards for literature in Anglophone Cameroon. EduArt hopes that these awards will encourage not only the production of more creative writing but equally boost publishing in Cameroon.  These are people's choice awards which means the winning entries will be selected by a cross section of the reading public and not only by literary experts.

Bate Besong Award for Poetry

Bate Besong, the Obasijom warrior, is without doubt Cameroon’s most prolific writer dead or alive. Primarily a poet, BB as he was fondly called, received his PhD in English and literary studies from the University of Calabar (Nigeria). He published several collections of poetry, including Polyphemus Detainee and Other Skulls (1980), The Grain of Bobe Ngom Jua (1985), Just Above Cameroon (1988) and Disgrace: An Autobiographical Narcissus, which he launched on March 7, 2007 a few hours before his death in a ghastly car accident on March 8th 2007. BB also published important plays including The Most Cruel Death of the Talkative Zombie (1987), Beast of No Nation (1990) and Change Waka and His Man Sawa Boy (2001).

Jane & Rufus Blanshard Award for Fiction

Jane and Rufus Blanshard led an exemplary life as a couple, if a look at their multi-racial family including two black children tells any story. Professor Rufus Blanshard was a pioneer in the teaching of African and African-American Literature at the University of Connecticut where he continually fought against racism on campus. Rufus’ interest in African/African-American literature led him to a Fulbright professorship in English at the University of Yaounde in 1975-76. While in Yaounde, Prof. Rufus Blanshard, a Harvard graduate, directed a performance of Loraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun.

The Musinga Award for Drama

Victor Elame Musinga is the pioneer who made drama a household word in English speaking Cameroon. His plays are written and staged for the people. With only a secondary school certificate and no formal training in theater arts, Musinga launched his forty-year old career with the humorous and insightful play Mr. No Balance Tastes Bribery, scripted between 1965-1966. Born in Tiko, Cameroon in 1946, Musinga has since written and produced over sixty plays including Enjema, Incredible Madam Etonde, Kolofonco, Mr. Director, The Trials of Ngowo, etc.