Antjie Krog
Dit is die tweede keer in die geskiedenis van die Helgaard Steyn-prys vir skryfkuns dat die wenwerk ’n digbundel is. Breyten Breytenbach het dit in 1996 gewen met Nege landskappe van ons tye bemaak aan ’n beminde. Dit is ook slegs die tweede keer dat ’n vrou die skryfkuns-prys kry. Dit is in 2008 gesamentlik aan Marlene van Niekerk vir Agaat en aan Hermann Giliomee vir Die Afrikaners toegeken.
Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi
Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi was born in New York in 1980. As part of a family living in exile from South Africa, the artist’s early life was framed by the comparative realities of race relations in South Africa and the United States. She was raised in New York, Harare and Johannesburg where she currently lives.
Christo Jankowitz
“As a composer one works in total isolation, and it’s then easy to lose heart. Apart from the euphoria of winning a prize of such magnitude for a work that required intense creative energy to bring about, it gives me renewed inspiration in my ongoing desire to create music of high quality.”
Mary Sibande
“Die werk getuig van die mag van die verbeelding. Hoewel die status van vroue in Suid-Afrika nog altyd sinoniem is met geweld, verdrukking en swaarkry, is dit deur veerkragtige eienskappe soos harde werk, krag, liefde, hoop en verbeelding dat vroue die geleentheid kry om hul eie narratief te skryf ondanks die noodlot of gebrek aan kanse.” – Uit die beoordelaars se commendatio
Lodewyk G. du Plessis
Dit is ‘n roman wat die leser intellektueel uitdaag, konfronteer met aktuele vraagstukke én emosioneel tref. Terselfdertyd is dit ʼn innemende boek; die hoofkarakter is iemand met wie lesers hulle om verskeie redes kan vereenselwig.
Wim Botha
Botha is known for his questioning of symbolism linked to religion, power structures and history, as well as for the use of various mediums such as maize, books and charcoal.
PG du Plessis
Du Plessis se styl is vlot en onderhoudend – hy vertel immers ’n hoogs emosionele verhaal – en hy doen dit met die nodige dramatiese flair. Marina le Roux, Die Burger (2008)
Pauline Gutter
Her chosen media are oils, charcoal drawings and video and these works can be described as a visible version of stripes and colour. (Van den Berg 2011)
Hans Huyssen
Proteus Variations is a musical representation of South Africa’s varied Proteaceae family. The work was com- missioned by Radio Deutsche Welle for the South African National Youth Orchestra (2006) and dedicated to the Betty’s Bay Hack Group.
Andrieta Wentzel
Wentzel has executed various commissions, such as a bronze bust of Nelson Mandela for the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature in Bisho, which was presented as a birthday gift to him on his 86th birthday in 2004. Others are designs for ceramic tiles and relief panels for the Magistrate’s Court in Port Elizabeth and oil paintings for Sun International interests in the city.