The Abebi Afro-Nonfiction Award has announced the call for entries for its 2025 edition, inviting Nigerian women writers to submit essays under the theme “Witness”.
Now in its third year, the award celebrates bold women writers who are unshackled by cultures of silence and shame, belting the chorus of their voices for all to hear. The call emphasizes authenticity, close observation, and what the judges describe as “a rigorous interrogation of the self and society.”
Submission Guidelines
- Open to Nigerian women aged 18 and above, including queer women.
- Applicants must have been born in, grown up in, or have significant lived experience in Nigeria.
- Writers must not have published a complete body of work (memoir, novel, etc.) through a publishing house by December 2025.
- Entries must be creative nonfiction (real-life stories drawn from true events).
- Academic, scholarly, or purely journalistic essays are not eligible.
- Essays should explore themes such as emotional interiority, family relations, gendered expectations, patriarchal conditioning, and triumph — but are not required to be sad or overtly political.
- Word count: between 1,500 and 3,000 words.
- Submissions open September 1, 2025, at 9 a.m. WAT and close October 15, 2025, at 6 p.m. WAT.
- Writers will receive responses in the third week of December 2025.
- Winners will be announced in the first week of January 2026.
This year’s judges are writer and editor Ucheoma Onwutuebe, literary curator Ope Adedeji, and previous judge Mofiyinfoluwa O.
Sponsored by Selar, the award carries a total prize pool of ₦625,000. The winner will receive ₦250,000, the first runner-up ₦150,000, while three notable entries will each earn ₦75,000. All five selected writers will also participate in a two-day fully funded residency in Lagos in January 2026.
To submit your entry, kindly click HERE.
Click here to read more about the judges as well as the submission guidelines.
Best of luck to all applicants!
Bakare Oluwatobiloba
I write to educate, motivate and define history with literature. Just being me!
