Reflecting and Reflexing on Book Awards: A Case Study of the Burt Award

Abstract

This paper studies the Burt Award, as a representation of Book awards, for the purpose of analysing complexities surrounding literary prizes as pointed by various scholars. Taking into consideration James English’s observation that prizes demonstrate how modes of capital are intertwined, in this article I investigate whether or not the Burt Award advocates prevailing social political agendas, like fighting corruption and HIV, promoting gender equality, and protecting the environment. I also seek to establish whether the award forges a relation between publishers and authors in their quest to produce winning texts. Employing Erica Hateley’s metaphor of mirrors (Reflecting while Reflexing), this article studies seven titles under the Burt Award’s winning list and observes that together with its undeniable importance to the book industry and the general public in Tanzania, the Burt Award represents a mode of intertwining not only when it comes to the agendas but also in the author-award-publisher trinity, which is essential for specific texts to win and for the existence of the award.