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 M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

(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 g ...

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

;

Nguni Nguni may refer to: *Nguni languages * Nguni cattle *Nguni people The Nguni people are a Bantu ethnic group from South Africa, with off-shoots in neighbouring countries in Southern Africa. Swazi (or Swati) people live in both South Africa and E ...

( Zulu,

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

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 Northern N ...

, 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 ...

(

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 Tswana may refer to: * Tswana people, the Bantu speaking people in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and other Southern Africa regions * Tswana language, the language spoken by the (Ba)Tswana people * Bophuthatswana, the former ba ...

);

TshiVenda Venda or Tshivenda is a Bantu language and an official language of South Africa. It is mainly spoken by the Venda people in the northern part of South Africa's Limpopo province, as well as by some Lemba people in South Africa. The Venda lang ...

; 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 (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.

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