2021 Winner of the SprinNG Poetry Contest
This year, we received 1223 submissions for the poetry contest. There were several competitive pieces in the pool for the prize. We congratulate the winner, Damilola Omotoyinbo, and the runner-ups: U.A Edwardson (first runner-up) and Bryan Joe Okwesili (second runner-up). We appreciate our judges, Ugochukwu Damian, Roseline Mgbochimma, Ayomide Wes Oriolowo, and Gimbiya Galadima, for taking the time to select the worthy finalists.
Damilola Omotoyinbo believes in the power of the pen and the positive difference it can make in our world. She has writings and interviews published at Afritondo, Kalahari Review, Konya Shamsrumi, Praxis, Hack writers, The Nigerian Tribune Newspaper, Nantygreens, and elsewhere.
Damilola is a fellow of the Ebedi International Writers’ Residency and an alumnus of the SprinNG Writing Fellowship. Follow her on social media.
THE WINNING POEM
Miracle by Damilola Omotoyinbo
tell me. tell me the dreams you unhinged from your body, how you let them flutter from your
palms, how they turn fireflies with blood-red lights. tell me. you are here, in the shadows.
carrying the griefs and glories of strangers on your shoulders. the strangers are asleep,
dreaming serenades, and the moon kisses their lips. long have they let yours go. but here, you
wander. deeply, you reach within yourself and pull you apart. arms. legs. souls. wills. all. strewn
on the kerbs. splattered like stars in a smiling sky. memories are the marrows. etched deep in
bone and skin. but memories can be heavy too. and sometimes, you have to breathe. to keep
breathing. to knead more memories. so why don't you shed them now, like a snake ripping its
slough, and stop, just stop, to redefine your becoming, to sprout, bloom, blossom into
something: a miracle, a screaming star, a dewdrop staining red glass a silver hue?
THE SHORTLISTED POEMS
First Runner-Up
The Second Runner-Up
The SprinNG Team thanks the judges who volunteered their time to select the Semi-finalists for the contest.
Damilola Omotoyinbo
2021 Winner
