Established by Oxfam in 2007, the Susie Smith Memorial Prize honours the life and work of Susie Smith, who died in June 2006. According to the organisers, Susie touched the lives of many people around the world in her 30-year career with Oxfam. In her later years with the organisation, she championed the cause of HIV/AIDS and pioneered new approaches to tackling the pandemic.

The prize aims to acknowledge and build on Susie’s sense of justice and commitment to sub-Saharan African and her talent and determination to challenge traditional thinking about HIV/AIDS. The prize of UK£3000 will be awarded to an already published piece of work on HIV/AIDS from sub-Saharan Africa. Any type of piece - (i.e. poetry, fiction, article, or chapter of a book) - of up to 10,000 words, in English, and published since January 2006, will be eligible.

The prize will be awarded in May 2008, and Oxfam will publish the winning piece on its website. The judges will focus on two key elements:

• quality of the piece itself (writing, analysis, insights); and
• evidence of impact of the writing in the media and/or with people, governments or other institutions.

Click here for more information.

All submissions must be received by January 31 2008.

They should include a cover letter outlining what kind of impact the piece has had and/or what it has achieved. A shortlist of five will be published on Oxfam’s website in early April 2008, and the winner will be announced at the end of April 2008. Only short listed candidates will be contacted. Posted submissions will not be returned.

All submissions and cover letter should be sent to the below contact:

Susie Smith Memorial Prize Submission
Oxfam Great Britain
Oxfam House
John Smith Drive
Oxford
OX4 2JY
United Kingdom

Or emailed to:
susiesmithmemorialprize@oxfam.org.uk