PeopleMakingHistoryNominateEN/FR

Nominate

Who is making history now?

This is the question the whole institution is built on, and we are asking you directly. Most of the people who belong in this record will never put themselves forward.

Nominate someone What we are looking for

01 / What we are looking for

Work that can be examined, not a reputation that has been repeated.

The test is simple to state and difficult to pass. What exists that would not exist if this person had not been there?

Not their title. Not their following. Not how well they speak. What exists.

They can be at any stage, in any country in Africa or in the African diaspora, in any field. They can be in the middle of something that may still fail, which is often when the most useful material exists.

What counts

Evidence
Something built, changed, proved, treated, taught, grown, repaired or made possible. Numbers where numbers are honest.
Agency
They decided and acted, rather than being appointed to something that was already running.
Cost
It required something of them. Consequential work usually does.
Consequence
Other people are better off, and preferably in a way that will still be true when this person is not there.

What does not count

Position
Holding a senior job is not a contribution. It is a chair.
Wealth
How much somebody has made says nothing on its own about what they have built.
Visibility
Being known is a measure of proximity to media, not of consequence.
Potential alone
Promise belongs in the Fellowship. The record is for work that has happened.

02 / Nominate someone

You do not need their permission, and you do not need to know them well.

You need to have seen the work. If we take it further we will approach them ourselves, and nothing is published without their agreement.

Nominating yourself is allowed and is not held against you. It is simply harder, because we will ask other people the same questions.

The most important answer on this form. Be specific. A sentence about what was there before and what is there now is worth more than a paragraph of praise.

A link, a publication, an organisation, a place, or a person who could confirm it. If there is nothing to check, say so honestly.

Whether you work with them, learned from them, benefited from their work, or simply watched it happen.

Every nomination is read by a person.

03 / What happens next

01

Somebody reads it

Not a system. A person. That will remain true for as long as the volume allows, and when it stops being true we will say so on this page rather than quietly stopping.

02

We look into the work

Independently of what the nomination says. We speak to people who have no reason to be generous about it.

03

If it holds, we approach them

A record requires the person's participation and their written permission. Nothing is published without it, and they see the record before anybody else does.

04

Most nominations do not become records quickly

That is honest rather than discouraging. Nominations are kept, revisited, and often become records years later when the work has matured. We do not reply to every nomination, and we would rather tell you that now.