BLANTYRE--MaraPost's Pius Nyondo was all smiles Saturday as he carted home K120, 000 in this year's Malawi Writers Union/First Merchant Bank Short Story Awards, popularly known as the FMB Awards.
The award, which is sponsored by the First Merchant Bank and has been around for seven years, has in the past mostly been won by journalists and university lecturers. Nyondo's victory makes him the youngest Malawian to win the award at 18.
Speaking during the award presentation ceremony in Blantyre, Nyondo, who is?persuing?a bachelor's degree at Mzuzu University, said the award was only a token of appreciation to him for the effort he deploys in creative writing.
"I'm always writing and I feel like this award is a token of appreciation to me for the hard work. As a writer, it's not the money that's important to me but the recognition attached to it. I'm sure this award will be a stepping stone to greater things," Nyondo said.
The author of a novella Lions from the South only a few weeks ago, penned the award winning short story We Got Sold which seriously tackles the hot button issue of child labour in Malawian tobacco estates.
While both Mawu's president Sambalikagwa Mvona and board member, Dr. Vera Chirwa, expressed their satisfaction with the successes of the award over the years, First Merchant Bank head of marketing, Slyvia Mataka, said as a bank they were proud to be associated with Mawu and creative writers.
"As a bank, we promise to support writers each time we get a chance," she said.
According to the judges, Maureen Masamba and Chancellor College Publication's Kingsley Jika, 54 short stories entered the competition from all over the country.
Nyondo's colleagues at MaraPost applaud him for his achievement. Said Patrick Mwanza, the online publication's editor: "The first time I saw a story he'd filed for us, I knew we'd struck gold. We truly are blessed to have him on our team. You can see his passion for the craft come through his writing. Without a doubt, Pius is destined for big things and you can take what I just said to the bank."
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(c) The Maravi Post 2012. Reproduction without acknowledgement prohibited
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