Poetry

• Winner – “It is Hope That Keeps the Flame of Dreams Dancing” by Abdulmueed Balogun
• First Runner-up – “Elocutio” by Olaitan Junaid
• Second Runner-up – “Euphemism” by Samuel A. Adeyemi

Flash Fiction

• Winner – “A Matching Pair” by Agbai Emmaterry Chinonso
• First Runner-up – “And This is How They Become Beautiful” by Mhembeuter Jeremiah Orhemba
• Second Runner-up – “One Dark Night” by Oloruntobi Ayomikun

Read comments from our guest judges.

Congrats to all the winners!

This is the shortlist of each category in no particular order.

Poetry

• “Euphemism” by Samuel A. Adeyemi
• “Overuse” by Chijindu Terrence James-Ibe
• “Elocutio” by Olaitan Junaid
• “It is Hope That Keeps the Flame of Dreams Dancing” by Balogun Abdulmueed
• “Sunrise” by Chinedu Gospel

Flash Fiction 

• “Her Baby” by Ndukwe Uchenna
• “One Dark Night” by Oloruntobi Ayomikun
• “And That’s How They Become Beautiful” by Mhembeuter Jeremiah Orhemba
• “A Matching Pair” by Agbai Emmaterry Chinonso

Congratulations to all whose entries made the shortlist!

Flash Fiction

Jerry Chiemeke

Poetry

Ernest Ògúnyẹmí

Ernest O. Ògúnyẹmí is a writer, editor, and literary journalist from Nigeria. His works have recently appeared/ are forthcoming in AGNI, Joyland, No Tokens, Agbowó, Southern Humanities Review, the Minnesota Review, the Dark, the McNeese Review, West Trade Review, among other places. He is a staff writer at Open Country Mag.

Poetry

• Winner – “Hydrology” by Chiwenite Onyekwelu
• First Runner-up – “She Stared Back at Us with Her Eyes Closed” by Amarachi Victoria Iwuafor
• Second Runner-up – “In the name of Transcendentals” by Ibe Obasiota Ben

Flash Fiction

• Winner – “Sing about me I’m Dying of Thirst” by Daniel Ogba
• First Runner-up – “A Feeling with no Name” by Chiamaka Ejiofor
• Second Runner-up – “This Too Shall Pass” by Jesutomisin Ipinmoye

Read comments from our guest judges.

This is the shortlist of our top seven in each category in no particular order.

Poetry

• “She Stared Back at Us with Her Eyes Closed” by Amarachi Victoria Iwuafor
• “Melody of Anarchy” by Ajani Samuel Victor
• “In the name of Transcendentals” by Ibe Obasiota Ben
• “This Thing Called Death” by Blessing Anaso
• “Hydrology” by Chiwenite Onyekwelu
• “in which my dead grandfather calls yet again through the mouth of a door” by Mayowa Oyewale
• “Grieving, my body feels like laughter caught young in its youth” by Chukwu Emmanuel

Flash Fiction

• “Moments Before We Die” by Yvonne Nezianya
• “May My Words Be Taken to You” by Sobur Adedokun
• “Verses of Silence” by Timi Sanni
• “A Feeling with no Name” by Chiamaka Ejiofor                    
• “Sing about me I’m Dying of Thirst” by Daniel Ogba
• “This Too Shall Pass” by Jesutomisin Ipinmoye
• “Fluttering Hope” by Miracle Chidera Odigwe                                   

Flash Fiction

Dr. Arthur Anyaduba

Chigbo Arthur Anyaduba is an assistant professor of English at the University of Winnipeg, Canada. He is also a beleaguered writer constantly drowning in his own stories. 

Poetry

Nome Emeka Patrick

Nome Emeka Patrick is a blxck bxy; he graduated from University of Benin, where he studied English Language and Literature. His works have been published or forthcoming in POETRY, Poet Lore, Strange Horizons, Black Warrior Review, Beloit poetry journal, The FIDDLEHEAD, Notre Dame Review, The Malahat Review, Puerto Del Sol, McNeese Review, Mud Season Review and elsewhere. A Best of the Net, Best New Poets, and Pushcart Prize nominee. His manuscript ‘We Need New Moses. Or New Luther King’ was a finalist for the 2019 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets. He guest-edited, alongside Itiola Jones, Young African Poets Anthology. He reads poetry submissions for Palette Poetry. He writes from Lagos, Nigeria.

Poetry

• Winner: “Ode to Our Body on Fire”  by Anthony Okpunor.
• First Runner-up: “Grief Will Remake”  by Ernest Ogunyemi.
• Second Runner-up: “Falling Waters”  by Lade Falobi.

Flash Fiction

• Winner: “Ayomide” by Nneoma Mbalewe.
• First Runner-up: “Born Again” by Tunji Akande.
• Second Runner-up: “The Fallen Angel” by Ebeigbe Brian.

This is the shortlist of our top six in each category in no particular order.

Poetry

• “What is Your Body”  by Onyekwelu Chiwenite.
• “Ode to Our Body on Fire”  by Anthony Okpunor.
• “Grief Will Remake”  by Ernest Ogunyemi.
• “How Last Tuesday Became Black Tuesday”  by Praise Osawaru.
• “Remember Us”  by Chibueze Obunadike.
• “Falling Waters”  by Lade Falobi.

Flash Fiction

• “How Bodies Become Fluid” by Obasiota Ben Ibe.
• “To Pull a Lion’s Tail” by Boloere Seibidor.
• “Born Again” by Tunji Akande.
• “Ayomide” by Nneoma Mbalewe.
• “The Fallen Angel” by Ebeigbe Brian.
• “Shey Sugar Wey Enter Tea Dey Come Out” by Ife Olatona.

Poetry

Kechi Nomu

Kechi Nomu lives in Lagos. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Ploughshares (Blog), Cosmonauts Avenue, The Commuter, Interrupture, The Bangalore Review, openDemocracy and elsewhere. Her work examining borders and memory has been exhibited by Invisible Borders in collaboration with Apexart, New York. Her poetry chapbook “Acts of Crucifixion” was published by Akashic Books and APBF in 2018. She is a Brunel International African Poetry Prize finalist.

Flash Fiction

None – Judged internally

Poetry

• Winner: “My father hews out himself on my skin” by CJ Onyedikachi
• 1st Runner-up: “She forgets she’s a woman” by Abu Bakr Sadiq
• 2nd Runner-up: “Girls like you have no history” by Angel Nwobodo

Flash Fiction

• Winner: “The house called joy” by Chizoma Emeka Joshua
• 1st Runner-up: “The skin of other women” by Chukwuebuka Ibeh Leonard
• 2nd Runner-up: “Aneesah” by Sobur Olalekan

This is the shortlist of our top five in each category in no particular order.

Poetry

• Girls like you have no history by Angel Nwobodo.
• My father hew out himself on my skin by CJ Onyedikachi.
• She forgets she’s a woman Abu Bakr Sadiq.
• The city is my family by Michael Ifeanyi Akuchie.
• What to imagine by Yusuff Uthman Adekola.

Flash Fiction

• Souls and smoke by Justin Clement.
• The skin of other women by Chukwuebuka Ibeh Leonard.
• The house called joy by Chizoma Emeka Joshua.
• Aneesah by Sobur Olalekan.
• The step breaks your confidence by Ezinne Okeke.

Poetry

Wale Owoade

Flash Fiction

TJ Benson

TJ Benson is a Nigerian writer and creative photographer whose work has appeared in several online journals like Jalada Africa, Expound and Bakwa magazine: in print magazines like Transition Magazine and more recently Saraba’s ‘Transitions’ issue. His chapbook of photography ‘Rituals’ was published in downloadable PDF on Sankofa Magazine in 2015. His short story ‘An Abundance of Yellow Paper’ was the joint winner of the Amab-HBF contest in 2016 and this collection was shortlisted for the Saraba Manuscript Prize. The collection is to be published by Parresia in September 2018. He is the first runner up for the 2016 Short Story Day Africa Prize themed ‘Migration’ and he is a two time writer-in-residence at the Ebedi Writers Residency Nigeria. He currently resides in Abuja.