The Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Awards continues to serve as a crucial platform for unearthing new voices and finding South African stories that cast a light on us as a nation.
The awards, now in their fifth year, are hosted by the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) and are open to South African scholars affiliated to public universities, publishers and independent artists and creatives across the country within the humanities and social sciences disciplines.
“As we celebrate the fifth edition of the HSS Awards, we note with delight the increase in popularity that this initiativetive has enjoyed in the course of its short but growing lifespan” said Prof Sarah Mosoetsa CEO of the NIHSS.
“Surely the time has come for many more South Africans to have opportunities to read, view and enjoy the works of our country’s finest, most original intellectualcreative scholars” added Mosoetsa.
Each winning entry receives R65,000 prize money.
“With the world over seemingly in turmoil; from the pandemic of the COVID-19; to our challenging economic climate, the concerning high unemployment rate and persistent levels of inequality; never has the need for education, relevance and innovation been so intense” said the Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science
and Innovation – Mr Buti Manamela.
Speaking during the awards ceremony Manamela went on to sound a reminder on the importance of humanities and social sciences.
“In order to evolve as a people (humans in society), we depend on outputs from the humanities and social sciences. The humanities and social sciences hold the keys to unlock future potential for greater equity, justice and social responsibility. In 2013, all indications were that vital disciplines in this broad humanities and social sciences field were in dire need of intervention to arrest their decline and stimulate and rejuvenate research activity,” he said.
The annual Humanities Awards 2020 ceremony was held on 12 March 2020 at The Square, Constitution Hill Human Rights Precinct in Johannesburg. 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. In addition, they recognise and celebrate those members of the HSS community who are undertaking the necessary work of creating post-apartheid and postcolonial forms of scholarship, creative production, and digital humanities outputs.
One of the judges, Prof Hlonipha Mokoena said that “many of this year’s entries dealt with this unalterable link between humankind and ecology. Nature — from the humblest dung beetle to the gargantuan and winding Kowie River — was given centre stage as authors worked through our anthropocene dilemmas.”
“This year’s submissions revealed that South African intellectuals are as conscious of their predecessors as they are of the present academic milieu. By broadening our understanding of what it means to be an intellectual, an activist, a novelist, a jurist, an anthropologist et cetera, these entries offered riveting and compelling reading for those who are captivated by personal narratives as well as the foregrounding of
affect in the telling of the story of a life,” added Mokoena.
Leading HSS scholars and academics congregated to honour and celebrate outstanding contributions to the HSS.
The winners were as follows:
●“A political biography of Selby Msimang Principle and Pragmatism in the
Liberation Struggle” – by Sibongiseni Mkhize, joint winner for Best
Non-Fiction Biography
● “Sol Plaatje: A life of Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje 1876 – 1932” by Prof Brian
Willan, joint winner for Best Non-Fiction Biography
●“Black Academic Voices – The South African Experience”, by Grace Khunou,
Hugo Canham, Katijah Khoza-Shangase and Edith Dinong Phaswana, winner
for Best Non-Fiction Edited Volume
●“Dance of the Dung Beetles: Their role in our changing world” by Marcus
Byrne and Helen Lunn, winner for Best Non-Fiction Monograph
●“The History of Intimacy” by Gabeba Baderoon, winner for Best Fiction Poetry
and Short Stories
●“Lacuna” by Fiona Snyckers, winner for Best Fiction Novel
●“Mantombi Matotiyana Songs of Greeting, Healing and Heritage” by
Mantombi Matotiyana and Michael Blake, co-composers and winners for Best
Musical Composition/Arrangement
●“Asymmetries Exhibition” by Nduka Mntambo, winner for Best Visual Art
●“Institute for Creative Arts (ICA) Live Art Festival 2018” submission by Jay
Pather, winner for Best Public Performance
●“Azimutha: An Experiment of Virtual Reality for the Fashion Film Genre” by
Nirma Dolly Madhoo, winner for Best DH Visualisation or Infographic.