Idumaese Alao Foundation has announced Chiwenite Onyekwelu as the winner of the inaugural Idumaese Alao Prize For Literature 2024. His poem “Cardio/Post-examination” was selected by the jury comprising Osieka Osinimu Alao, Rasaq Malik Gbolahan and Paul Liam for its “sheer brilliance, tenderness, aesthetic awareness, and attention to the minute details of reality which oftentimes elude us.” When contacted, Onyekwelu responded he was “excited and grateful” for his emergence. The foundation also announced Timi Sanni’s “Body Elixir, Blood Warrior” and Abdulrazaq Salihu’s “All the Things I Love, the Sands Have Covered with Memory” as First and Second Runners Up respectively. The winner receives 100,000 naira while the runners up receive 30,000 naira and 20,000 naira. The foundation further stated that the prize anthology comprising the 16 longlisted poems will be published in the course of the year.
