ROSA's 2017 Award Winners

On the evening of Saturday 21 October, at the ROSA gala dinner in Johannesburg, winners were announced for the various contests run by ROSA this year.

Conference Scene Contest

The first prizes awarded were for the Conference Scene Contest. This is a contest open exclusively to delegates attending the annual conference, and this year's theme was That One Night. We received seven entries. One entry, a scene from Rae Rivers' book Declan, received an honorable mention for its excellent and engaging writing, however since this book has been professionally edited, I decided to take that out of the running.

Which left three entries that were not only well written, but also matched the theme requirement. The prize was therefore split two ways, and a third prize, donated by Tule Publishing, was also awarded. The winners, in no particular order, were Elaine Dodge, Cliffordene Norton and Gene Mathey.

Strelitzia Award

We then announced the winner of the inaugural Strelitzia Award. This contest, open to unpublished authors, received seven entries. One entry stood out head and shoulders above the rest, and the judges were unanimous in their decision.

The winner was announced as Melissa Volker, for her complete novel Shadow Flicker. As Melissa was unable to be present, the award was accepted on her behalf by last year's winner, Suzanne Jefferies. We wish Melissa the best of luck and hope she has great success with Shadow Flicker.

In the coming weeks, ROSA will be announcing the revised guidelines for next year's Strelitzia Award, as well as feedback from this year's judges to help aspiring authors prepare their entries - so watch this space!

Imbali Award - Afrikaans

The other award making its debut this year, was the Imbali Award for best Afrikaans romance novel by a South African author, published between January and December 2016. We received eight entries for this category, all of which were of a very high standard.

The winners were announced as:
Winner - Sophia Kapp for her novel Moelikheid met 'n Meermin
Runner-up - Dina Botha for her novel Vind Mekaar

As Sophia Kapp was unable to be present, the award was accepted on her behalf by ROSA's outgoing Deputy Chairperson, Rebecca Crowley.

We were also very honoured to have several of the Afrikaans Imbali judges present at the gala dinner and prize giving. The Afrikaans judges' support was incredible!

Imbali Award - English

The final award to be presented was the Imbali Award for best English romance novel by a South African author, published between January and December 2016. We received nine entries in this category, some traditionally published and some self-published.

The winners were announced as:
Winner - Rae Rivers for her novel Ethan
Runner-up - Natasha Anders for her novel A Ruthless Proposition

Rae accepted her award and made a short but heartfelt acceptance speech.

Check back here on this blog in coming weeks for tips from the judges as well as the announcement of next year's contests.