The UCT Creative Works Award seeks to give recognition to major creative works (such as artworks, performances, productions, compositions and architectural designs) produced by staff members of the university within the last five years, which are outstanding in their own terms.
No restriction is placed on the medium in which the creative work is produced. Generally, one award is made in any one year, and no award will be made if no creative work of sufficient merit is nominated.
To be considered for the UCT Creative Works Award:
the creative works must have been produced by staff members of UCT
the creative work must have been placed in the public domain within the last five years
most of the work should have been done during the staff member’s employment at UCT
in the case of jointly-produced works where non-UCT persons are involved, the UCT person should have made the most significant contribution to the work – evidence of this must be supplied with the nomination.
Application and nomination procedure
Nomination process
Nominators must be staff members of the university and may nominate their own work. Nominations need not be endorsed by the person who produced the creative work, although this is preferred. Creative works previously nominated (except winners) may be re-nominated.
Each nomination must be seconded and should include the following:
A letter of nomination stating comprehensively why the nominator is recommending the creative work for this award. The committee relies heavily on the nomination letter as the starting point for evaluating the creative work, so it should be aimed at assisting the committee in determining the exceptional merits of the work.
A copy of, or supporting portfolio for, the creative work as appropriate, as well as substantive published peer reviews or information regarding public response to the work, must be attached to the creative work, as the impact of the creative work is one of the means by which its excellence will be assessed. The committee depends to a great extent in its decision-making process on peer reviews of the work nominated, written by serious scholars or creative workers of repute. Where the work nominated is a performance or an exhibition that lies in the past, the committee will have to rely on such a supporting portfolio to an even greater extent than if it was still able to be viewed by its members.
Submission process
Hard copies of the nominations may be posted or delivered to the Research Office, 2 Rhodes Avenue, Mowbray or e-mailed to researchfunding@uct.ac.za (but not both) on or before the deadline date. All submissions are reviewed by a committee to determine the award recipient.
