You must be a citizen of an African state to be considered for the Golden Baobab Prizes. All winning and longlisted entrants will be asked to submit a photocopy of their state passport (or comparable document) to confirm their citizenship to an African country.

The entrant must be the one who wrote the story fully. That is, you cannot submit a story written by someone else. But once your story is written you can by all means ask someone to read it and assist with edits.

The Golden Baobab Prizes are looking for stories that will be loved by children for many years to come. A winning story is one that immediately stands out and is imaginative, refreshing and well written. The judges look for well-written (excellent storyline, character development and plot) children’s stories with African content that will captivate children.

We are currently accepting stories written only in English. So long as writers are African citizens and are submitting stories in English, we will accept stories from Francophone countries.

The Golden Baobab Prizes are the only annual pan-African literature prizes that inspire African authors to create and submit unpublished stories targeting readers below the age of 12 years. Currently, there are two Golden Baobab Prizes for Literature: for the best picture book, and for the best early chapter book. Additionally, Golden Baobab's publishing sister company connects winning and longlisted authors to leading publishers across Africa and internationally. All the above are unique to Golden Baobab.

The Golden Baobab Prizes evaluation handbook is designed to guide our readers and judges to identify stories that will captivate the imaginations of African children. We also select children to serve as judges in certain years of the Prize.

Stories previously entered to any of the Golden Baobab Prizes cannot be resubmitted. Golden Baobab reserves the right to disqualify resubmitted stories.

Previous winners of any of the Golden Baobab Prizes cannot re-enter the competition. Once a Golden Baobab winner, always a Golden Baobab winner. This is a new rule for the Prizes.

Golden Baobab assures the publication of all winning stories. For longlisted and shortlisted stories, there is no guarantee. However, for two calendar years following the announcement of the Prize, Golden Baobab commits to promoting all longlisted and shortlisted stories to leading African and international publishers to secure attractive publishing deals for our authors. Outstanding stories that do not win and are not longlisted may also be picked up for promotion to publishers.

The modifications that were made to the 2013 Golden Baobab Prizes for Literature have been maintained for subsequent years. The Golden Baobab Prizes remain committed to inspiring African talent to create captivating stories for children. The current prize structure enables us to achieve this mission better.

No, the Golden Baobab Prize for Picture Books requires only a text submission. Stories with illustrations will be disqualified from the Prize.

Golden Baobab only accepts stories written by single authors. If two writers have co-authored a children's story, we encourage each of those authors to utilize their talents to write two separate stories for consideration.

Once stories are received, entrants will be notified with a receipt of submission via email.

Stories received after the submission deadline of a given year will be automatically forwarded for consideration of the following prize cycle provided it meets that year's requirements.

African Bureau Stories, a publishing sister company of Golden Baobab, is dedicated to getting our winning and longlisted stories published in multiple countries. We provide connections to a number of top children’s publishers throughout Africa and around the globe. Entries that do not win or are not longlisted but are outstanding to our judges and readers, may be invited by African Bureau for publication.

Eligible entrants may submit up to three stories per Prize. So an entrant may decide, for example, to submit 3 stories to the Picture Book Prize and 3 stories to the Early Chapter Book Prize. Each story submitted must be different.

Stories submitted to the Golden Baobab Prizes go through a very rigorous selection process. Initially each submission is first read by up to three 'readers' - volunteer literary enthusiasts intentionally selected by Golden Baobab and guided by an in-depth evaluation manual and scoring rubric. All scores are averaged and the stories are then ranked based on this. The top 10 stories for each Prize continue to the next round to be evaluated by the prestigious Golden Baobab judging panel. The panel selects a winner from the top ten submissions for each Prize, and designates a shortlist of no more than three stories per category that deserve honorable mention if they see fit. All stories submitted to the Golden Baobab Prize are judged blindly - that is to say, readers and judges only have access to a submission's title and manuscript. The authors' identities, including name, age, gender and nationality, are not revealed to anyone in the judging process until the winners have been selected.

The members of Golden Baobab Prize’s Reading and Judging committee come from diverse racial, class, employment, gender, age, geographic, language and cultural backgrounds. They represent a very broad range of perspectives, and all have one thing in common. They are children's literature enthusiasts.

Please find the story Mr Goop by Ivor Hartmann - Winner of The Golden Baobab Prize Best Story for ages 12-15 years, on the following link: http://www.african-writing.com/seven/ivorhartmann.htm

You must be a citizen of an African state to be considered for the Golden Baobab Prizes for Illustrations. All winning and shortlisted entrants will be asked to submit a photocopy of their state passport (or comparable document) to confirm their citizenship.

The Golden Baobab Prizes for Illustrations are for a series of outstanding illustrations that demonstrate that the artist understands how to match pictures to text. The pictures should also demonstrate the entrant’s grasp of narrative, pacing and characterization. The judges will focus on the quality of the illustrations, as well as their suitability for children’s books. They will also be looking for the passion, talent and track records of illustrators.

The entrant must be the one who created the illustration. That is, you cannot submit an illustration created by someone else. But you can ask for people's opinions on your illustration once it is completed.

Yes, illustrators from francophone countries may submit illustrations to the competition.

The Golden Baobab Prizes for Illustrations are the biggest and only annual pan-African illustration prizes that inspire African illustrators to create and submit illustrations targeting children between the ages of 6 and 11. There are two Golden Baobab Prizes for Illustration: The Golden Baobab Prize for Illustrators which is open to all African illustrators and The Golden Baobab Prize for Rising Illustrators which is for African Illustrators under the age of 18. ​

The winning illustrations will be showcased on the Golden Baobab website as well as at different exhibitions.

No, the Golden Baobab Prizes for Illustrations only require illustrations as per the instructions provided by Golden Baobab. These instructions can be found in the rules and regulations.

Golden Baobab only accepts illustrations submitted by single artists.

Once stories are received, entrants will be notified with a receipt of submission via email.

Illustrations received after the submission deadline are automatically disqualified.

Entrants may make 3 submissions in total to either of the prizes to which they qualify.

Stories submitted to the Golden Baobab Prizes for Illustrations will go through a very rigorous selection process. Judging will be two tiered. One session will sift through all submissions received to pick the top 10. Another session involving prestigious judges who will decide on the winners from the top 10. The illustrators' identities, including name, age, gender and nationality, are not revealed to anyone in the judging process until the winners have been selected.