Submissions for the awards were open to academics from the humanities and social sciences, along with creative curators and artists based at South African universities, in any of South Africa’s official languages. Each award was valued at R60 000. The winners include Nirma Madhoo, Shirley Walters and Astrid Von Kotze, who won the best digital humanity prize for their respective works Future Body, Technological Embodiment in Digital Fashion Media, and Popular Education. Jay Pather, Sazi Dlamini, Neo Muyanga, Sumangala Damodaran, and Ari Sitas won the best public performance and best musical composition prizes in the creative collection category. Jacob Dlamini won first prize in the best monograph category for Askari. The institute, which was established on 5 December 2013, aims to advance and coordinate scholarship, research and ethical practice in the fields of humanities and the social sciences within and through the existing and future public universities in South Africa.
