Call for submissions:
2022 Thandika Mkandawire Prize
for Outstanding Scholarship in African Political Economy and Economic Development
and Prize for Young Scholars

The African Programme on Rethinking Development Economics (Aporde) and the DSI/NRF South African Research Chair in Industrial Development (SARChI Industrial Development) are delighted to announce the second Thandika Mkandawire Prize for Outstanding Scholarship in African Political Economy and Economic Development. This prize is to be awarded annually to recognise outstanding research papers of the highest quality by African scholars. A second award, the Thandika Mkandawire Prize for Young Scholars in African Political Economy and Economic Development, is specifically for young researchers.

The call is now open for submissions for the 2022 award.
Submissions close on 22 May 2022.

The awards:

Thandika Mkandawire Prize for Outstanding Scholarship in African Political Economy and Economic Development

• This prize is intended to recognise leading contributions, with outstanding levels of scholarship.
• The author/s of the winning submission will receive an award of $10 000. There are no conditions attached to the utilisation of the prize.

Thandika Mkandawire Prize for Young Scholars in African Political Economy and Economic Development

• The author/s of the winning submission will receive an award of $2 500. There are no conditions attached to the utilisation of the prize.
• The winner/s will be accepted and funded to attend Aporde 2022 (should they not already be Aporde alumni).

The winners will be announced by August. The decisions of the selection committees are final and no correspondence will be entered into. The selection committees reserve the right not to make awards.

Submissions will be judged on the following criteria:

1. Quality of the research (in particular: originality and contribution to knowledge, rigour, and clarity and coherence).
2. Alignment with the theme of African political economy and economic development, and with the intellectual legacy of Thandika Mkandawire. It is not required for submissions to explicitly discuss the intellectual contributions of Thandika Mkandawire. However, winning submissions do need to engage with the spirit of critical enquiry that is associated with this intellectual legacy.

Eligibility:

1. Authors must be citizens of an African country.
2. Submissions can only be entered for one of the two awards.
3. For the Young Scholars award, applicants must be under 40 years of age as of 22 May 2022.
4. Submissions may be co-authored, with no more than two authors in total. In the case of co-authored submissions, both authors must meet the citizenship eligibility criterion, and the age criterion in the case of the Young Scholars award.
5. The research may be published or unpublished. If already published, it should not have been published before 2021.
6. All submissions should be between 8-9 000 words in total, inclusive of all references, footnotes/endnotes, abstract, tables and figures, and appendices.
7. Papers may be from any relevant disciplinary background and may use any methodological approach.

Submissions must include the following:

1. Original research paper, in word format, without any identifying information (such as names of authors or acknowledgments), with word length strictly as per the above and with an abstract.
2. A signed cover page stating: (1) the title of the paper; (2) names and contact details of author/s; (3) abstract; (4) acknowledgments; (5) total word length; (6) an indication of which award the submission is for (submissions can only be entered for one award); (7) a declaration that the paper is an original piece of research; and (8) details of publication in cases where papers have already been published. The cover page should be signed by both authors in the case of co-authored submissions.
3. Short CVs of all authors.
4. Copy of passport or national identity document for each author.

Submissions must strictly comply with the above and should be sent to sarchiid@uj.ac.za by the closing date of 22 May 2022. No late, incomplete or non-compliant applications will be considered.

About Professor Thandika Mkandawire:
Thandika Mkandawire (1940-2020) was a Malawian political economist who made fundamental contributions to thinking around African economic development. He held various positions, including as Director of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) and Executive Secretary of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). At the time of his passing, he held a Chair at the London School of Economics, having previously been a professor at universities in Zimbabwe and Sweden. He passed away in Sweden, where he had lived for many years.