Sprinng Writing Fellowship 2024 Report
In January 2024, Sprinng, in collaboration with Pepper Coast Lit, officially announced the expansion of its Writing Fellowship to Liberia—the third of its kind since its expansion to Ghana in 2021 and South Africa in 2023. Celebrating our growing community, we reflected on how far we have come, our goals, mission, impact, and how much farther we can go. We are deeply grateful for the amazing support we have received within and outside the literary community. We thank Pepper Coast Lit team, particularly Jeremy Karn for the devoted partnership in ensuring the success of African writers.
In 2024, we received a total of 1,748 applications from young African writers in Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, and South Africa. Most importantly, 102 contemporary writers accepted to serve as mentors this year, 99 of which were active as part of the fellowship, which allowed us to have backup mentors available to step in for situations where another mentor was unavailable. In 2023, we paired 77 mentees with 74 mentors, with 65 completing the fellowship requirements, while in 2024, 94 mentees were paired with 88 completing the program with their certifications at an outstanding 93% graduation rate.
Every year, as we read through the mentees’ feedback forms, we are filled with immense gratitude for the invaluable resources that make it possible for mentees to have a truly meaningful and transformative experience. These resources empower mentees to actualize their creative writing goals and unlock their full potential.
Our mentees, through the exceptional teaching, guidance, commitment, and encouragement of their assigned mentors, have honed their creative skills, expanded their knowledge, and built their sense of self and confidence. Mentors have also equipped these fellows with vital soft skills for career development and future creative-writing successes that are documented in this report. We are especially grateful to our mentors for believing in our mission. Their willingness to say yes when approached, and their dedication to sharing their time, exceptional talents, and knowledge, continues to honor and elevate our vision of empowering African writers.
In 2024, we also had a group of 8 mentees and an alumna (Adeola Oke) who served as peer captains, managing the distribution of resources such as weekly airtimes and contest prizes to their peers. This allowed the Sprinng team and the mentees to be more efficient in their collaborations and strengthened our connections. We are deeply grateful for their service to others in this journey!
Facts and figures from the 2024 mentees and mentors of the fellowship:
The average rating for the overall experience in the fellowship, on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 1 being the least and 5 being the most), is an impressive 4.28.
100% of the mentors said enough thought was put into the fellowship.
100% acknowledged that the weekly airtime was useful in supporting them during the program.
97.4% of the mentors said they wanted to be mentors again.
94.45% noted the group chats were helpful in expressing their concerns and asking questions.
87.5% found the contest as a motivating factor in their fellowship experience.
87.01% of the mentors thought the manual was detailed enough and equipped them in their role.
Fellowship completion timeline:
13.64% of mentees completed the fellowship in 7 weeks.
53.41% of mentees finished the fellowship in 6 weeks.
21.59% of mentees completed the fellowship in 5 weeks.
7.95% of mentees completed theirs in 4 weeks.
3.41% of mentees completed theirs in 3 weeks.
Sprinng will continue to stay true to its mission of fostering a thriving network that empowers diverse African writers, amplifies their voices, and celebrates their literature.
Thank you all for your support and keep on Sprinnging!
Sincerely,
Ebukun Ogunyemi
COO, Sprinng
