Start
How the Prize program works
Every Prize follows the same path: apply, get screened, get judged, get verified, then get paid directly. Applying is free.
Browse all 12 steps
Step by step
What to do.
How Prizes work
Start
How Prizes work
Swipe
Read the specific Prize page
Read the page for the Prize you want. It sets the deadline, materials, and criteria.
Apply before the deadline
Apply before the deadline. It costs nothing.
Independent review
Independent reviewers score your work against the published criteria.
Verify before announcing
Finalists are verified before anyone is announced.
Receive the award directly
The winner is paid directly. Nobody ever asks you for a fee.
Eligibility and applicant representations
Next chapterRead the full chapter
b54 Prizes recognize strong original research and make excellent African scholarship easier to discover. Every Prize moves through the same controlled lifecycle: design and approval, publication, application, administrative screening, independent review, shortlisting, verification, award decision, conditional notification, announcement, direct delivery, and closeout.
Source of truth
This Guide governs the common process. The published page for a specific Prize is authoritative for the cycle-specific information it states, including its eligible field and level, deadline, required materials, judging criteria, award details, and special terms. If a specific page expressly differs from this Guide, its clearly published specific term controls. No email, message, conversation, flyer, or oral promise can change a published term.
Operating standard
This Guide states the controls b54 staff must follow; it does not mean every control is automated by the platform. Until a dedicated system record exists for a step, staff must keep a dated, access-controlled record and may not skip the step.
Roles
Applicants submit complete, truthful work they have the right to share. Reviewers assess only the published criteria and protect confidential material. b54 staff screen, assign, verify, record decisions, and arrange delivery. A partner may support a Prize but receives no private applicant data, judging influence, winner guarantee, or intellectual-property rights unless a separate published term says otherwise.
Core protections
Applying is free. A winner never pays a release, processing, tax-clearance, or delivery fee to b54 or an intermediary. b54 may decide not to make an award when no eligible submission meets the published standard. Results remain provisional until verification is complete.