The 2024 Abebi Award in Afro-Nonfiction is now accepting submissions for their second year of awards. This is an exciting chance for Nigerian women to submit works on their experiences! Submissions run from now until November 1st, 6pm WAT.

This award is for creative nonfiction work, or stories taken from your own life experiences. The piece should be between 1,500-3,000 words and they would love to hear about a wide range of personal topics. Each writer must be a woman ,18 years or older from Nigeria (born, grown up in, or have lived for an extensive period of time). They also encourage entries from queer women. Here’s a description of different types of work that could be submitted according to Abebi’s guidelines:

We would love to read essays that delve deep into emotional interiorities, family relations, gendered expectations, patriarchal conditioning and triumph. This does not mean essays must be sad, or political but that they depict the complexities of what it is to move as a woman in this country/continent.

The winner will be chosen by a panel of judges featuring, Àjọkẹ́ Bọ́dúndé, Ope Adedeji, and Mofiyinfoluwa O.

Àjọkẹ́ Bọ́dúndé’s work is rooted in the “celebration of womanhood as whole and powerful,” and she is passionate about narrating familial experiences in poetry and prose. Ope Adedeji has experience in writing and editing and has won a few literary awards for her writing. Mofiyinfoluwa O. is interested in personal narrative and how identifying as a woman can be embodied in literature.

Together they will choose a winner who will be announced in the second week of December, as well as a runner up and three notable entries.

The winner will receive N200,000, the first runner up will receive a N120,000, and the three notable entries will each receive N50,000. All four of these writers will be invited to a paid writer’s residency in Lagos in December, with an award ceremony for their featured work, and the works created during their stay.

Want to hear more about the 2024 Abebi Award, or want to submit your work? Go to their website to apply or find out more.