M-Net Literary Awards were a group of South African literary awards, awarded from 1991 to 2013. They were established and sponsored by M-Net (Electronic Media Network), a South African television station. The award was suspended indefinitely after the 2013 season. In the awards' fourth year, an award for indigenous African languages was inaugurated, alongside the original English and

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

awards, to encourage writing in indigenous languages. In subsequent years there were six language categories, covering all eleven official South African languages: English;

; Nguni ( Zulu, Xhosa,

Ndebele Ndebele may refer to: *Southern Ndebele people, located in South Africa *Northern Ndebele people, located in Zimbabwe and Botswana Languages *Southern Ndebele language, the language of the South Ndebele *Northern Ndebele language, the language o ...

, and Swati);

SeSotho Sotho () or Sesotho () or Southern Sotho is a Southern Bantu language of the Sotho–Tswana ("S.30") group, spoken primarily by the Basotho in Lesotho, where it is the national and official language; South Africa (particularly the Free Sta ...

(

Sotho Sotho may refer to: *Sotho people (or ''Basotho''), an African ethnic group principally resident in South Africa, Lesotho and southern Botswana * Sotho language (''Sesotho'' or ''Southern Sotho''), a Bantu language spoken in southern Africa, an off ...

, Pedi, and Tswana); TshiVenda; and SeTsonga. In 2005, a Film award was introduced, for novels that novels that showed promise for translation into a visual medium. Three Lifetime Achievements Awards were also given: to

Mazisi Kunene Mazisi (Raymond) Kunene (12 May 1930 – 11 August 2006) was a South African poet best known for his translation of the epic Zulu poem '' Emperor Shaka the Great''. While in exile from South Africa's apartheid regime, Kunene was an active suppo ...

(2005), Cynthia Marivate (2006), and

Mzilikazi Khumalo James Steven Mzilikazi Khumalo (20 June 1932 —22 June 2021) was a South African composer and professor emeritus of African languages at the University of the Witwatersrand. Early life Khumalo was born on the farm KwaNgwelu in Natal in 1932. S ...

(2007). In their early years, the M-Net Awards were notable among South African literary awards for considering, under their judging criteria, not only literary merit but also "strong narrative content" and "accessibility to a broad reading public." They were also, in the 1990s, the best remunerated literary awards in South Africa. From 2011, winners received a prize of R50 000, up from R30,000 in previous years.The 2011 M-Net Literary Awards Winners"
. Books LIVE. Retrieved 21 June 2011. Until 2010, the Awards were announced at the same event as the Via Afrika Awards (previously known as the Nasboek Literary Awards), which are ongoing as the

Media24 Books Literary Awards The Media24 Books Literary Awards (known before 2011 as the Via Afrika Awards, and before that as the Nasboek Literary Awards) are a group of five South African literary prizes awarded annually by Media24, the print-media arm of the South African m ...

Award winners

References

{{Reflist

External links

M-Net Literary Awards
''African Book Awards Database'', Indiana University South African literary awards Awards established in 1991 1991 establishments in South Africa Fiction awards South African literary events Awards disestablished in 2013 2013 disestablishments in South Africa