The Annual HSS Awards celebrates excellence of the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS)
discipline The National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) will host the 6th Annual HSS Book, Creative Collection, and Digital Contribution Awards on the 31st of March
2021 at Maropeng Cradle of Humankind – a World Heritage Site.
The HSS Awards provide an opportunity to shine the spotlight on those intellectual-creative
scholars whose contributions often go unnoticed both in the academic sphere and in society
at large.
The awards honour outstanding, innovative and socially responsive scholarship, creative as
well as digital contributions that enhance and advance fields in the humanities and social
sciences. The awards shall recognise and celebrate those members of the broader
Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) community, in conversation with other fields of study,
who are undertaking the necessary work of creating post-apartheid and post-colonial forms
of scholarship, creative production, and digital humanities outputs.
The Awards will be for Books, Creative Collections and Digital Contributions published
between July 2019 and October 2020: and Creative Collections and Digital Contributions
produced between January 2019 and October 2020. The final shortlist will be announced on
the 24th of March ahead of this year’s awards.
“The book submissions for the awards span a wide range of categories and they illustrate
the diversity, beauty, complexities, and richness of the South African context, as well as
celebrating excellence of the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) discipline.” says Prof
Sarah Mosoetsa, CEO at NIHSS.
The Awards – hosted by the NIHSS have eight categories, which include fiction (edited
volumes and single authored volumes), non-fiction monographs and edited volumes,
musical compositions/arrangements, public performances, visual arts and digital humanities
visualisations and infographics.
The awards not only serve as a platform for recognition of the writers and contributors, but
to also pay tribute to the strides made by the associated publishing houses; they also aid the
creatives and academics in promoting their work.
This sixth instalment of the HSS Awards will continue to serve as a crucial platform for
unearthing new voices and finding South African stories that cast a light on us as a nation,
telling of our struggles as we grapple with a myriad of challenges, but also celebrating our
resilience.
