The 2024 Sprinng Annual Poetry Contest Winners
Sprinng is happy to announce Michael Emerald Oladosu, Adedokun Ibrahim, and Miracle Nwegbo as the winners of the 2024 Sprinng Annual Poetry Contest.
We thank everyone who participated in the contest and the Poetry Column NND for their support and partnership.
Congratulations to the winners on this remarkable feat!
Read the winners’ poems and biographies below
MIGRANT BY MICHAEL EMERALD OLADOSU
You performed
the miracle of
the red sea
to find land,
but the waves
that brought
you here
say the shore
is not your home.
Biography
Oladosu Michael Emerald (he/him) is the author of the poetry book Every Little Thing That Moves, an art editor at Surging Tide magazine, a digital/musical/visual artist, a photographer, a footballer, a boxer, and a political scientist. He teaches art to kids and adults at the Arnheim Art Gallery and is a pioneer resident of the Muktar Aliyu Art Residency.
His works have been published or forthcoming in many magazines and won numerous awards in writing and art; a few to mention: Better Than Starbucks, Undivided magazine, Feral, Lyra, Afrocritik, Providus bank anthology alongside Professor Wole Soyinka, winner of the Off The Limit Art contest, finalist in the Arting Arena Poetry Chapbook Contest, Ev0ke, finalist in Paradise Gate poetry contest, finalist in AprilCentaur essay competition, Kalahari Review, Fraidy Cat Lit, Eco Punk, Cultural Daily, Paper Lantern Lit, the maul magazine, Zoetic, Pinch Journal, penumbric, Native skin, and elsewhere. As he says, "Art chose me before I existed," his life revolves around art.
FINDING FAITH WITHIN THE RUBBLE BY ADEDOKUN IBRAHIM
BBC: Just getting to the end of the day and surviving the night
must feel like a miracle in the Gaza Strip.
...........
My father often sits before the TV
where news repeats until it's no longer new to see.
You've witnessed it too, time and time again
the headline echoing till it fades, a silent sigh.
Hasbuna-llaahu wa ni'mal-wakeel
is a soothing lullaby here.
& the land I come from kneels in silence, tears uncried, we still feel the sorrow’s grip.
Still, the god I worship pulls me through every trial, and after, there will be ease.
Biography
Born on a Friday in October, Adedokun Ibrahim Anwar is a homeschooled Nigerian teen writer who was born and raised in the suburbs of Lagos. He writes for those who seek to be touched in places where humans can’t.
In 2023, he won the African Writers Award (Poetry Category). His works have graced esteemed literary journals, including Brittle Paper, Eunoia Review, African Writer Magazine, The Kalahari Review, The Shallow Tales Review, Petrichor Journal, and many others. Beyond the world of words, Adedokun is no stranger to late-night deadlines or the joyous chaos of building bricks with toddlers.
ONITSHA: THE TOWN OF BUSTLES BY MIRACLE CHINECHEREM NWEGBO
Loud voices from earth’s corners resound,
As retailers call at passers-by.
A trade as though—
Was a voice-war with a foe.
Business magnates on their wits,
Sweating children hawking their means,
Buyers on their hasty feet,
Bus conductors on their vivacious tips,
With every motion happening at light’s speed.
This ancient town is only but a town of bustles.
Biography
Miracle Chinecherem Nwegbo is a medical student at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University. Beyond medicine, he finds ardent passion in poetry, fiction writing, and photography. He's a passionate poet who spends the majority of his time writing on faith, economics, political events, and personal experiences. He's authored a human-trafficking-themed novel, Tinted too, and plans to spend more time in the poetry genre.
Moreover, for Miracle, poetry is a medium of creativity, "threading and ironing." It is an avenue for him to pen his ideas, imaginations, and streams of thoughts on paper in a simple yet creative way. He says poetry is a sweet sound flute you blow with your hands.
