Curators of the Nigerian Prize for Teen Authors have released the list of their 2020 winners.
Instituted only for students of secondary schools in the country, three winners emerged from each of the two categories: poetry and prose.
In the poetry category, Adamu Usman from Gombe High School came first with Do not Bury Me; Muna Sheikh Lemu from International College, Minna came second with Poetic Musings; while Zakiyya Dzukogi from Himma International School, Minna, came third with Carved.
In the prose category, Tofunmi Adeoya Abiola from Dansol High School, Lagos, won the first prize with Nowhere to Run; Salamatu Abdullahi from Himma International College, Minna came second with Destined; and Mujaheed Ameen Lilo from Sunshine International School, Kano came third with City of Smoke.
The entries were judged by Abdullahi Ismaila Garba and Mahmud Zukogi, both from Bayero University, Kano.
Entries for the 2021 edition are to close in 16 days and the deadline for the 2021 contest slated for November 30, 2021.
The prizes will be for Poetry and fiction (Novella or collection of short stories) and is open to only Nigerian teen authors who are still in secondary school, irrespective of their place of residence.
The winners from each category would be awarded N300,000 each.
How to submit your entry
• Submission should be sent with proof of identity. That is Nigerian citizenship (photocopy of Nigerian passport or National identity card), birth certificate, letter of recommendation by school and parents and last term’s report sheet.
• Published and unpublished books can be submitted.
• Entries can be novellas or a collection of short stories.
• There is no word count limitation given.
Who is eligible?
• The Nigeria Prize for Teen Authors is for student-writers who are in secondary schools at the moment of entry.
• Books published before 2020 will not be accepted.
• Complete contact information, including a full contact address, emails, phone numbers of school and parents and other relevant contact information plus passport photograph in school uniform should accompany each submission.
• A student-writer will enter only one published work.
• An entry must not have been submitted for another literary prize elsewhere.
• An entry (whether published or not) must never be repeated in the subsequent years of this prize.
• Plagiarism would not be supported; make sure to submit your original work.
