The Caine Prize for African writing was awarded in July to Mary Watson of Cape Town, South Africa, for her short story "Jungfrau" from her collection Moss (Kwela Books, 2004).

The Caine Prize for African writing was awarded in July to Mary Watson of Cape Town, South Africa, for her short story "Jungfrau" from her collection Moss (Kwela Books, 2004). The 10,000 [pounds sterling] prize is awarded to an African writer who has been published on the continent or elsewhere. Judges, who sorted through 110 entries from 21 African countries, said her story about South Africa after apartheid as seen through a child's eyes was powerful and skillfully written.

After learning of the prize, Watson said: "That I've made my family proud really means so much to me.... At a more practical level, it is probably helpful in terms of my career as a writer. My ambition is to one day focus on writing fulltime and hopefully this is a step in that direction," Watson lectures in film studies at the University of Cape Town and is collaborating with other South African writers on a novel.