The Academy recognizes excellence in and service to English by a number of awards.

The Academy Gold Medal is awarded to persons who have rendered distinguished service to English.

The Olive Schreiner Prize is for new or emergent talent.

The Thomas Pringle Awards are for work published in newspapers, periodicals and journals. They are awarded on a rotation basis for:

• a book, play, film or TV review
• a literary article or substantial book review
• an article on English education
• a short story or one-act play
• one or more poems

All the above awards are sponsored by the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund.

The Percy FitzPatrick Award for Youth Literature, The Percy FitzPatrick Award for Youth literature, awarded in alternate years, is aimed at encouraging the publication of books directed towards children between the ages of 10 and 14.

The Sol Plaatje Award for Translation, The Sol Plaatje Award for Translation is awarded in alternate years for translation of a prose passage or poetry into English from any of the other official languages in the South African Republic. It is designed to facilitate more effective understanding between the users of the eleven official languages by recognizing those who contribute to this.

For a list of previous winners of these awards, please click here

For the text of acceptance speeches of some of the winners, please click here

All citations for English Academy awards are lodged with the National English Literary Museum in Grahamstown. To request copies, please go to http://www.ru.ac.za/nelm