Aim: This award recognises student(s) who have made a substantial contribution to the Pan-African community anywhere in the world. This contribution can be through academic excellence, enterprise, community work or activism. The award can be given to a student or group of students.
The winner(s) of FACE Pius Adesanmi Memorial Student Award for Outstanding Pan-Africanism will receive a plaque in recognition of their achievement.
Prof Pius Adesanmi: On 10 March 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed after only six minutes in the air on a flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi. 157 people lost their lives. There were no survivors. Professor Pius Adesanmi was one of the people who died in the crash. He was a Professor of English and African Studies at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. Professor Pius Adesanmi was fiercely intellectual, a prolific writer, whose words leapt off the page into our hearts, because he spoke to us of things we knew, in language we recognised, with the acerbic wit of our people. In prose, speech, humour, sarcasm, and poetry Professor Adesanmi always forced us to disrupt our seemingly settled ways of thinking. He was passionate about Africa, about how we thought about ourselves and our place in the world, about how we thought about the Diaspora. His writing unravelled and disrupted our understanding of our continent and our world. He showed in his writing that critical thinking was essential to changing the world. Critical thinking was not a futile preoccupation that prevented one from action, but a necessary step to ensuring that the appropriate actions were taken. His life and scholarship were inspiration for us all.
Eligibility 2019/2020 academic year:
- Awardee must be a registered student at the University of Bristol. (The award will be opened up beyond the University of Bristol from the 2020/2021 academic year)
Submission Criteria:
- Nominations should be submitted by or on behalf of the student(s)
- Entries will open on January 10, 2020 and must be received by March 10, 2020 to be eligible for the 2020 award.
- Nominations for the award must include a CV and a short explanation (no more than 1000 words -NB: this is an absolute limit and there is no need to aim to write 1000 words if no more than 500 are needed.) elucidating what the nominee(s) has done and why the nominee(s)’ achievements reflect a commitment to Pan-Africanism.
- What may be considered a substantial contribution will rely on the Pan-African ideals which are anti-capitalist, womanist and communal. Therefore, the value accorded to the contribution by the committee will not be based on capitalist or neoliberal ideals, but on Pan-African ideals of solidarity, love and togetherness of African and African-descended people.
- Examples of what may be considered a substantial contribution include but are not limited to the following done with any Pan-African aspect:
- voluntary work
- academic work
- fundraising
- activism
- raising awareness
- self-development e.g. a book club, establishing a club/society/group
- media work etc
Please submit nominations via email
Announcement of Winner:
A short list will be announced by April 2020. All people shortlisted will be recognised at FACE 2020. One of the shortlisted applicants, whose work the committee agrees stand out, will be chosen, announced and awarded at FACE 2020 – the annual conference of Forever Africa Conference and Events.