Past Winners of the Nigeria Prize for Teen Authors to Judge Book O’Clock Secondary School Prize
Mujahid Ameen Lilo, Pacella Chukwuma- Eke, runners up of the 2020 and 2022 Nigeria Prize for Teen Authors, as well as Isah Aliyu Chiroma, poet/essayist and editor of Poetry Club UDUS has been announced as the judges for the Book O’Clock Anniversary Prize for Secondary Schools.
The Book O’clock Anniversary Prize is an annual literary prize organised by Book O’Clock to mark her anniversary.
Its first edition is themed "If The President Could Read Me" and is a writing prize targeted at getting secondary school students in Sokoto to write essays on what they would like to say to the incoming President of Nigeria.
Secondary schools in Sokoto are invited to enter for the prize and stand a chance of winning prizes worth over N100,000. Deadline: 31st May 2023. Find out more here.
Meet the Judges
- Mujahid Ameen Lilo
Mujahid Ameen Lilo writes in English and Hausa. He majors in English Language at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. His works have appeared in The Lagos Review, The Nigeria Review, Ebedi Review, Kalahari Review, Daily Trust, and others.He participated in the Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange Program and emerged winner of the Wole Soyinka Essay Competition in 2019. A two time winner of the BUK Creative Writers Poetry Contest, he was also shortlisted for the Nigeria Prize for Teen Authors 2020 and the Aminiya Trust Hausa Short Story Competition 2021. Lilo is the recipient of the 2021 HIASFEST National Star Prize for the most progressive teen author in Nigeria awarded by the Hilltop Creative Arts Foundation. He was a guest at the Katsina Book and Arts Festival 2021 and Sokoto Book and Arts Festival 2022.
2. Pacella Chukwuma-Eke
Pacella Chukwuma- Eke, NGP Xv, is a Nigerian poet and short story writer. She is the winner of the Cradle poetry contest, Abuja Duet Slam, Splendors of Dawn Poetry Prize, a Best of Net Nominee, Joint winner of the FOW Poetry Contest, D’lit Review April Writing Contest, and more. She is an editor at the Teen Lit Journal, and is currently studying Human Physiology at Uli, a foreign town in Eastern Nigeria. Pacella is the author of Love in its bliss and sins; runner up of the 2022 Nigeria Prize for Teen Authors(Poetry.) Her works have appeared or are forthcoming on several literary journals including the African Poetry Magazine, Eunoia Review, Gyroscope Review, Poetry marathon anthology, Strange Horizons, Voices of Africa, and elsewhere. She is a member of The HillTop Creative Arts Foundation. Say “Hi,” on Instagram, @pacellachukwumaeke, and Twitter @dancing_poet.
3. Isah Aliyu Chiroma
Isah Aliyu Chiroma is a columnist, writer, and freelance journalist. Chiroma is the editor-in-chief of the Nigerian Chapter of Right for Education as well as the Poetry Club UDUS. He received the Yesmin El-Rufai Foundation’s Artist of the Month award for March 2021. His essay was selected as one of the best entrants in the fifth Chinua Achebe poetry/essay anthology. He is an associate journalist with the Scoop Storytelling initiative. His works have appeared in the Guardian Newspaper, Daily Trust, Blueprint mewspaper, This Day newspaper, The Nation, NigerianObserver, Opinion Nigeria newspaper, Konyashamsrumi, theArts-Muse Fair, and other publications. Chiroma enjoys reading and loves nature.
