Afreximbank has opened the 2026 call for entries for the CANEX Prize for Publishing, an initiative designed to strengthen the creative economy and intellectual property ownership across the African continent and the Caribbean.
Submissions are open from May 14 until June 30 for publishers producing trade books in English, French, Arabic, Swahili, Portuguese, Spanish, or any indigenous African language. To be eligible, works must have been published within the preceding calendar year by firms owned and operating within African Union or CARICOM member states.
Unlike traditional literary awards that focus solely on authors, this prize evaluates the institutional strength of the publishing house. A panel of independent judges will assess entries based on editorial rigour, production quality, innovation and distribution reach. The initiative aims to reduce the continent’s reliance on imported books and foreign publishing structures by incentivising high-quality local production.
Successful finalists will be required to share 10% of any prize money with the book’s author. The winner will be announced during the CANEX Book Factory ceremony at the CANEX Weekend in Lagos, Nigeria, scheduled for November 5 to 8.
The previous edition was won by Karavan Press for the title In Silence My Heart Speaks by Thobeka Yose. Organisers confirmed that while self-published authors are typically excluded, the prize remains open to a variety of formats including fiction, non-fiction and collections of poetry or essays.
