{"id":56218,"date":"2025-11-10T18:34:38","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T18:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/judence-kayitesi-antoine-mugesera-among-literary-stars-feted-at-bridgevision\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T18:27:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T18:27:32","slug":"judence-kayitesi-antoine-mugesera-among-literary-stars-feted-at-bridgevision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/judence-kayitesi-antoine-mugesera-among-literary-stars-feted-at-bridgevision\/","title":{"rendered":"Judence Kayitesi, Antoine Mugesera among literary stars feted at Bridgevision awards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The ceremony took place on November 8, 2025, recognising achievements across several categories: best young writer, best female writer, best male writer, best African writer, and best writer of all time.<\/p>\n<p>Divine Akimana, who received the award for best young writer, described it as her first major recognition. She credited her book, Scars That Shape Us, for the accolade.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat I wanted to convey through this book, I have achieved. I published it in 2020 to offer comfort to people who have experienced conflicts and show them that there is hope for the future,\u201d Akimana said.<\/p>\n<p>Judence Kayitesi, awarded best female writer, reflected on the challenges women face in pursuing writing alongside other responsibilities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWomen have many roles, including giving birth, raising children, managing the household, and other daily duties. It can be difficult to find time to write, but I want to say that women are strong, they can achieve everything they set out to do and should never be afraid to pursue their passions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Antoine Mugesera, named best writer of all time, brings over 20 years of experience, focusing on Rwanda\u2019s history and the lives of its people across different periods.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was well prepared. I started writing while at university and continued even during my 15-year career in government. Since then, I have kept writing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He noted that some of his works, especially those on religious topics, were published under a pseudonym to avoid potential conflicts with the church. He also explained that writing involves extensive research, allowing an author to gain deep knowledge on a subject and then share it with readers.<\/p>\n<p>Bridgevision CEO Joe E. Sully said the awards aim to encourage literary pursuits in Rwanda and across the continent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese awards were initially intended for Rwandans only, but we realised there is a wider need across the continent. That\u2019s why we introduced the category for the best African writer. Our goal is to inspire participation from across Africa and beyond, making this an international recognition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Other winners included Adut Loi Akok, who was recognised as the best African writer, and Dr. Christian Ntizimira, who received the award for best male writer.<\/p>\n<p>The Radiate Rwanda Literacy Excellence Awards are in their second edition, following the inaugural event in 2024.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-97458 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/bridgevision.jpg\" alt=\"Divine Akimana won the award for best young writer.\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-97457 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/bridgevision_2.jpg\" alt=\"Antoine Mugesera, awarded writer of all time, expressed his joy at receiving the honour after more than 20 years of writing.\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-97456 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/bridgevision_new.jpg\" alt=\"Bridgevision celebrated top writers at the 2025 Radiate Rwanda Literacy Excellence Awards on Saturday, November 8, 2025.\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-97455 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/radiate_rwanda-2.jpg\" alt=\"Judence Kayitesi, awarded best female writer, reflected on the challenges women face in pursuing writing alongside other responsibilities.\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-97454 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/radiate_rwanda_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-97453 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/radiate_rwanda_3.jpg\" alt=\"Bridgevision CEO Joe E. Sully said the awards aim to encourage literary pursuits in Rwanda and across the continent.\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bridgevision, an organisation dedicated to promoting a culture of reading and writing, honoured five outstanding authors at the 2025 Radiate Rwanda Literacy Excellence Awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000097452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-56218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000097452,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/bridge_vision_awards.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/bridge_vision_awards.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/bridge_vision_awards.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/bridge_vision_awards.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/bridge_vision_awards.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/bridge_vision_awards.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000097452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56218"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=56218"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=56218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}