Young Ethiopian Writers Win Burt Award for African Literature

August 30, 2011, Addis Ababa (Ezega.com) - The Burt Award of African Literature was presented on August 27^th 2011 to three finalists in the first competition of its kind to be held in Ethiopia. The ceremony was held in the main hall of the Ministry of Education and was attended by His Excellency Ato Fuad Ibrahim State Minister for Education, Ms. Meaghan Byers 1^st Secretary for Development for the Embassy of Canada, and Ms. Ann Speak representing the Burt family.

Ato Tesfaye Dubale, Director for CODE Ethiopia, who partnered with the Burt Award to launch the competition for Ethiopian authors in May of 2010, explained that the contest was held for original novels for young people, between the ages of fifteen and eighteen, written in the English language. He explained that the competition was a part of the efforts exerted by CODE Ethiopia to encourage literacy by increasing access to books across the country.

Ato Tesfaye mentioned some of the work that has already been accomplished by CODE to distribute books to various high schools, universities and community reading rooms in partnership with many donor organizations across the world. He expressed the hope that the culturally relevant English language books written by Ethiopian authors will encourage a generation of readers and authors in this country.

According to M.s Speak this dream is shared by Mr. Bill Burt, the private philanthropist who sponsors this Award. As a representative of the Burt family, Ms Speak spoke of the passion for books that inspired Mr. Bill Burt to sponsor this award in two other African countries and now in Ethiopia. She said that Mr. Burt wanted his legacy to be a generation of young people inspired to read and with an access to books. She also mentioned his desire to encourage authors and his hope that the prize money would allow that recipients the opportunity to pursue their craft.

The first place prize of 12 thousand Canadian Dollars was won by Ato Solomon Hailemariam for his novel ‘The Young Crusader’. ‘The Young Crusader’ addresses the passion for justice and the desire for love of young Admasu. According to Associate Professor Zerihun Asfaw, Department of Ethiopian Literature and Folklore, “it is a work that employs a good mix of dialogue, narration and description to record the challenges faced by the protagonist while attempting to be a self-sufficient individual”.

The second place prize was awarded to Ato Gebeyehu Ayele, a giant in Ethiopian Literature, for ‘Escape’ and ‘The Letters’ by Meron Tekleberhan received third place. The second Burt Award will be launched soon in Ethiopia.
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