2008 Winners
Artists Making a Difference in 2008
Cont Mhlanga, a Zimbabwean playwright whose politically charged satire, "The Good President", presents a fictionalised account of a ruthless dictator, was the overall winner for the 2008 Freedom to Create Prize.
Cont's courage and talent were shared by Main Prize runner ups
Belarus Free Theatre, an underground project that resists the censorship and pressure of the Belarusian government, and Deeyah, a Pakistani-Norwegian singer and women's rights activist.
The Youth Prize was awarded to City of Rhyme, a hip hop collective hailing from the dangerous favelas of Recife, Northern Brazil while the Imprisoned Artist Prize was awarded to Burmese satirist Zarganar, was serving a 35 year prison sentence after publicly criticising the government response to Cyclone Nargis, which killed more than 140,000 people.
