Winners of the 2019 Nigeria Prize for Teen Authors – Judges Report
Judge: Ismail Bala, Bayero University, Kano (poetry).
Judge: Mahmud Zukogi, Bayero University, Kano (prose).
1st Positions - N120, 000 each.
2nd positions - N80, 000 each.
3rd positions - N50, 000 each.
Poetry
1st
Position:
Do
not Bury Me by Adamu Usman Garko - Gombe High School, Gombe State.
2nd
Position:
Carved
by Zakiyyah Dzukogi - Himma International College, Minna, Niger State.
3rd
Position:
Poetic
Musings by Muna Sheikh Lemu - Himma International College, Minna, Niger State.
Prose
1st
Position:
Nowhere
to Run by Tofunmi Adeoya Abiola - Dansol High School, Ikeja, Lagos.
2nd
Position:
City
of Smoke by Mujaheed Ameen Lilo - Sunshine International School, Kano.
3rd
Position:
Destined
by Salamatu Abdullahi - Himma International College, Minna, Niger State.
Judge’s Report: Poetry.
The
following texts are deserving of this year’s Prize:
Do
Not Bury Me Winner
Carved
1st Runner up
Poetic
Musings 2nd Runner up
Adamu Usman Garko, Do Not
Bury Me
ADAMU
USMAN GARKO is not a “new” voice just emerging into the cacophony of voices
that of late has become of contemporary Nigerian poetry; even though his name
may not strike an immediate cord of familiarity. Several of his poems have
appeared in newspapers and web blogs, journals and anthologies, or are read in
local writers’ fora. His debut collection, When Day Breaks (2019) is a
culmination, certainly a handsome reward of his long standing poetic
enthusiasm, even at his tender age. Now he comes with another manuscript, “Do
Not Bury Me”.
The
poems clearly standout in a sort of “in-your-face” to the reader, since they
vitiate, in a defying, though innovative way the conventional form, following,
instead, that streak of the poetics associated with American poetry where the
poet effaces himself, leaving behind his clear, resonating, voice with no
pretension, or complexity. They seek to tell a tale, couched in the sensitivity
and sensibility of the poet’s encounter (and indeed ours) with the many
challenges of life in contemporary Nigeria. In more ways than one, the poems
here are a resounding response to the context, nay the environment in which
they are envisioned and caringly composed.
The
generous selection of poems in the collection, numbering 41 were written
largely around mundane, idiosyncratic themes bordering on both the personal and
the political, the public and private: there are poems here on time and the
effect of its passing, love, desire; themes which traverse local, national and
global affairs to bestow on the collection a distinctive ubiquity. In short,
the collection is replete and quite bulging with almost all the issues one is
likely to encounter in an aesthetically alert poetry of the kind and
disposition one associates with contemporary Nigerian poetry.
All
in all, “Do Not Bury Me” gives us an insight into the poet’s mind, and no less
flourishes from our reading as a memorable manuscript of poems. The poems are
gifted to the discerning and discriminating reader in a simple (though not simplistic)
tone with well worked out metaphors.
Zakiyyah Dzukogi,
Carved
INDEED
IT IS always a tiding to treasure (if not an event to celebrate) when the Muse
blesses us: and a new poet is born into the Poetryville, even more so when the
birth heralds a promising manuscript and may eventually put a new poetry
publication into our hands. Poetry aficionados would welcome this new
manuscript, Carved by Zakiyyah Dzukogi. The poet is a young lady whose zeal for
creativity is quite evident in the poems collected here.
The
book contains fifty poems bordering on diverse subjects, ranging from short
love poems to poetic takes on life generally, the precarious state of purring
cats and a portrait of poetry amidst the chaos of contemporary life.
Though
the voice of the poet may still be “young”, given her relative age and writing
experience, her satisfying of the demands of poetics may not be all too
“mature”, though the imageries may be uncluttered, and the metaphors come up
less tropological, the language may be simple; yet this is an important poetic
offering, and for that it deserves an honourable mention in this Prize.
Muna Sheikh-Lemu, Poetic
Musings
“POETIC
MUSINGS” IS a manuscript of thirty three poems. Almost always short and not
more than a page long, the poems together as an over-arching whole express the
young poet’s impressions and reactions about a number of issues, many of which
are quite germane, and topical and are therefore likely to appeal, in equal
measure, to both young and adult readers alike. Despite the relatively young
age of Muna Sheik-Lemu, a number of things in both the style and overall
presentation of most of the poems make them stand out quite forcefully within
the lean corpus of teenage poetry in Nigeria.
Clearly,
the inspiration behind the poems—not to mention the zeal and the enthusiasm to
reach a wider audience through (hopely) eventual publication—is indubitably
what could pass for the readers (teenage or otherwise) as the heightened level
of concern about the situation in contemporary Nigeria. As such, the poems
explore in their own little ways familiar everyday issues as much relevant and
important to the young and adult alike. Quite easily young readers could
recognize not just their collective anguish but also their tender hope,
aspirations, and dreams in times where such is increasingly proving difficult
if not impossible. The subtle fusion of celebration and lamentation, happiness
and a streak of sadness in “Poetic Musings” beautifully represent the nascent
complexity of thought and intelligence of Nigerian teenage writers; the poems
are indeed a mark of that feat.
Prose
Preamble
There
were seven entries in all for the prose, which is the short story writing
competition. These entries are divided into four novella, namely: Ramatu
Abdullahi, Last Word, Sa’adatu Abdullahi, Little Trophy, Tofunmi Adeoya,
Nowhere To Run, and Salamatu Abdullahi, Destined. The short stories include
Sakina Aliyu Wara, The Valuable Treasure; Mujaheed Ameen Lilo, City of Smoke
and Oluwatosin Ajayi, Raped.
These
works, seven in all, represented in varying degrees of style, young, innocent
and fresh, yet bourgeoning imagination, images of orphaned life, parental
infidelity, female teen pressures, truncated dreams, destruction, dislocation
and displacement associated with insurgency in the Northeast.
It
is interesting to report that these teen authors have demonstrated great
promise in their grappling with style and marriage between form and content.
What is most endearing in each one of these works is the innocence of the
imagination and the weave of plot in the midst of fitting and bungling
imageries. There are brilliant representations of reality and there are a
potpourri of plots fastened together by uncommon determination to tell a story
anyhow and somehow. These two realities demonstrates the true essence of the
teen authorship competition; essence driven by desire to develop and produce
young emerging writers whose ink will fertilize the spectre of drought left
behind by forebears.
In
our attempt to arrive at a fair assessment of entries and come up with final
shortlist, we examined the originality of work, the style, by which we mean
effortless use of language to represent reality in different shades of
imageries and metaphors, and structural harmony, coherence and flow. To this
end, using these criteria, we narrowed our selection to three final entries,
namely Salamatu Abdullahi, Destined, Mujaheed Aminu Lilo, City of Smoke and
Tofunmi Adeoya, Nowhere To Run.
Winner: Tofunmi Adeoya,
Nowhere To Run
Tofunmi
Adeoya’s Nowhere To Run is a nine chapter novella that is striking both for its
form and content. The style is original and bears no allegiance to any
pronounced influence. The use of language is effortlessly lucid and flows with
the tide of the plot. The themes of parental abuse, domestic violence and harsh
realities of a broken home were beautifully woven and represented in this
unassuming yet compelling novella. Tofunmi has presented herself as a short
story writer with a great promise, given the opportunity to improve and excel.
First Runner-up: Mujaheed
Ameen Lilo, City of Smoke
The
first runner-up is a short story composed of nine stories with the title City
of Smoke. Although Mujaheed has had some exposure in literary circles in the
last two years, no thanks to his winning the Wole Soyinka International
Cultural Exchange Essay contest, this is his first known publication. City of
Smoke is an ambitious prose work that draws strength from intertextual influence
in terms of style and content. Although the themes especially of the
aftereffects of insurgency in the Northeast are rich and germane, there is the
palpable attempt to overreach the use of language to force imageries and
metaphors, leading to unconscious de-ornamentation of representation in the
stories. In spite of this, City of Smoke stood out as an engaging short story
text and one which can compete in other spheres if appropriately improved upon.
Second Runner-up: Salamatu
Abdullahi, Destined
This
is another unassuming yet lucid novella. Salamatu’s prose is original and is
not constrained by the pressure to align to any style of influence. If Salamatu
has read many works, they may have expanded her world view and not impacted on
her style. Destined represents orphaned life of two sisters who were overcome
by pressures of teenage life and independent living, leading to forced
separation, quest and return. There is flow and coherence in the plot of the
novella and this contribute to the general power of representation. This has
earned the novella a second runner-up position.
Uh such a lovely girl
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