• Ofodile, Salahudeen, Effiong win NSPP 2022
• Talyoung, Ayoade, Olowonjoyin clinch consolation prizes
Poets in Nigeria (PIN) has announced Chinualumogu Godsent Ofodile, Mahbubat Kanyinsola Salahudeen and Joshua Okon Effiong as winners for the seventh edition of the Nigerian Students Poetry Prize (NSPP) at an awards ceremony which took place yesterday, 10th of December at Eriata Heights, Ikorodu, Lagos.
Closing to submissions on 31st of March, 2022, the NSPP received 538 poems from students representing 94 tertiary institutions including universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, schools of nursing, seminary schools and the Airforce Institute of Technology.
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Ofodile, a 200-level student of English and Literary Studies, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, clinched the first prize with his poem titled “The Voyage” while Salahudeen, a 100-level student of Communication and Language Arts, University of Ibadan, came 2nd with her poem titled “I Really Am a Metaphor for Grief”. “Resurrection” authored by Effiong, a 300-level student of Science Laboratory Technology, University of Calabar, won the 3rd prize.
A 5-man judging panel, including Prof. Sunny Awhefeada (Professor of African Literature and Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the Delta State University, Abraka), Iquo DianaAbasi (performance poet and longlisted poet, NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature 2022), Kukogho Iruesiri Samson (Winner of the GTB Dusty Manuscript Prize), Luz María López (award-winning Puerto Rican poet and editor) and Adekunle Oguntoyinbo Shola Phebian (Performance Poet and Creative Director) reviewed the entries to select the top 50 poems for inclusion in the NSPP 2022 anthology.
“PIN’s Nigerian Students Poetry Prize is a laudable initiative, helping to unearth and celebrate some of Nigeria’s finest, young poets. This year’s call for entries went out during the needlessly prolonged strike by ASUU, the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities. Not surprisingly, this unfortunate event featured in a few of the entries. But what struck me most about these poems is the fact that many of the young poets captured the desolation, frustration and palpable tension in the land,” remarked Iquo Diana Abasi.
The prize winners will receive a total cash prize of N425,000 while the consolation prize winners – Younglan Talyoung (University of Jos), Ayoade Olamide (Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye) and Olowonjoyin Muhammed Sanni (University of Ilorin) – will share a total sum of N75,000.
The NSPP was instituted in 2016 to stimulate literary creativity among Nigerian students. Noah Oladele (Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife), Bakre Fadil Adedamola (University of Ibadan), Godstime Iberiyenari Tamunofiri (Niger Delta University), Ogugua Micah Okoye Micah Ogugua (Enugu State University of Science and Technology), Okwubi Godwin Adah (University of Benin) and Samuel A. Adeyemi (Federal University, Lokoja) won 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 editions of the Prize respectively.
Kolade Olanrewaju Freedom
Moderator, NSPP 2022