The shortlist for the 2023 Awele Creative Trust Award is out. The 10th anniversary of this award reveals a list of five spectacular Nigerian stories with their own unique perspectives.
Awele Creative Trust (ACT) is a non-profit trust formed in 2013 to provide a platform and enabling environment for creative young persons in Nigeria through literature and arts. Beginning in 2015, ACT offers an annual award with a monetary sum attached to it, to encourage aspiring writers.
The prize is awarded to a short story by any writer between the ages of 16 and 26, who is a resident in Nigeria. The winning author receives a cash prize of N50,000, while each shortlisted writer wins N20,000.
According to the judges, the task of selecting a shortlist from the really strong longlist posed a significant challenge. They remarked, “Each story offered a unique perspective, as well as its own distinctive voice, in what is a testament to the richness of talent in Nigeria.”
The works on this shortlist have the power to provoke and further conversations on some of the pressing social issues of 21st-century Nigeria. Here are the shortlisted writers:
Chideraa Ike-Akaenyi –The Moulting
Pamela Erhiakeme – Body Art, Tiger Stripes
Olayinka Yaqub – The Weight of Duty
Favour Ahuchaogu – The Mary Who Was Your Friend
Chidera Solomon Anikpe – A Eulogy For Happy Girls
A winner will be announced in April 2024.
Congrats to the shortlisted writers! Stay tuned for more details.
Abdullahi Ali March 26, 2024 03:22
Congrats, to the five selected writers. Hope you all could win the first prize, but unfortunately, only one person for the feat.