Noma Award for Publishing in Africa

The Noma Award for Publishing in Africa (French:Le Prix Noma de Publication en Afrique), which ran from 1980 to 2009, was an annual $10,000 prize for outstanding African writers and scholars who published in Africa. Within four years of its establishment, the prize "had become the major book award in Africa". It was one of the series of Noma Prizes. The prize was established in 1979 by Shoichi Noma (died 1984), president of Kodansha Ltd, the largest publishing house in Japan, to encourage the publication of works by African authors. The award was annual and given to any new book published in three categories: literature, juvenile and scholarly. The award was sponsored by Kodansha Ltd, administered by the quarterly African Book Publishing Record, and presented under the auspices of UNESCO. Books were admissible in any of the languages of Africa, whether local or European.

From the Wikipedia article “Noma Award for Publishing in Africa”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Check the official rules of the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa for the current eligibility window, accepted formats, residency or language requirements and any entry fee. For most established prizes the publisher submits on the author's behalf, often with a limit on entries per imprint.

If you are self-published, look for an explicit statement that independently published books are accepted, and budget for entry fees and copies for judges.