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Bengono Essola Edouard, winner of the 2017 Bakwa Short Story Competition.

There has been a burst of literary activities in Cameroon thanks to the amazing work done by platforms like Bakwa Magazine.

A few months ago, Bakwa launched a short story prize designed to “celebrate emerging writers from Cameroon.” Entrants were encouraged to explore a diversity of literary forms including but not limited to fantasy, sci-fi, romance, political allegory, and so on. [read here if you missed it].

We are delighted to announce that Bengono Essola Edouard emerged winner of the prize for his short story titled “De Passion et d’Encre.” The win comes with a cash prize of about $160 dollars.

The magazine had, in December, released a shortlist of four, including the winning entry: “Bad Lake” by Nkiacha Atemnkeng, “Brrrrrrrrr” by A. Bouna Guazong, and “Scrap Hunters” by Dipita Kwa.

The prize judges were Jean-Claude Awono, Donna Forbin, Babila Mutia, Edwige-Renée Dro, and Dr. Madhu  Krishnan.

The winner was announced on February 27 during a lovely event where shortlisted writers read their stories and fielded questions from the audience.

Congrats to Edouard!

Here are photos from the event.

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Nfor Edwin, copy editor at Bakwa Magazine.
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Bengono Essola Edouard (L), winner, receives his certificate from Uwe Jung.
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Rita Bakop facilitated a session.
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Shortlisted writer Bouna Guazong.
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Dzekashu MacViban, editor of Bakwa, curating a session.
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Shortlisted writer Dipita Kwa.

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Photos by @NMNjamnsi via @BMReadingSeries twitter page.