Blessing Paul Ajayi, an English Literature teacher at Ogudu Senior Grammar School, Ogudu GRA Lagos State, has emerged as the winner of the DKA Annual Short Story Writing Competition 2023 – an initiative of DKA Creative Writers’ Network.
Ajayi emerged from a list of 30 keen contestants to claim the winning cash prize of N150,000.
Blessing Olatoberu and Happiness Kolade emerged as first and second runners-up, respectively. Olatoberu claimed a cash prize of N135,000 while Kolade got N115,000, bringing the total cash prize won by the three finalists to N400,000.
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DKA is an acronym for David Kunle Agunbiade, and the organisation was founded in April 2023.
“These competitions aim to provide a platform for young and aspiring African writers to showcase their creative writing prowess and to demonstrate that writers can and should expect to earn from their craft,” said Agunbiade who is an author, creative writer, spoken word artist, and doctoral research student (Ph.D.) in Creative and Critical Writing.
The Executive Co-ordinator, Oby Olamma Nnadi, also one of Nigeria’s leading mental health awareness advocates, stated that the competition is aimed at helping young African writers hone their writing skills.
“The whole essence of establishing this foundation is to motivate aspiring African novelists to hone their skills. This accounts for why DKA also commenced a 90-day mentorship initiative,” she said.
The competition came on the back of the DKA Annual Poetry Slam, which was held last year in which the sum of N150,000 was shared among the three finalists.
According to the organizers, these annual events will aim to grow year after year, with a steady increase in the cash awards to the winning contestants.