The organizers of the New Voices Poetry Contest have announced the winners of the 2025 edition, following the earlier release of a shortlist that featured ten poets and one honourable mention.
Launched in May 2025, the contest was created to celebrate Ghana’s emerging poetic talents and provide a platform for young writers to explore themes of identity, ancestry, and contemporary life.
The 2025 winners include Denoo Edinam Yawo, known by the pen name ‘Poetic Siren’, who emerged as the overall winner with her poem Afe.
Osae-Koranteng Derrick, also known as ‘Scott Frost’, secured second place with A Voice From The Dead, while Estella Esinam Apenuvor placed third with To Them That Bleach Because Life Is Not Fair.
Rounding out the top five are Benedicta Kyeremaa Addai with Kwame… Lost But Not Forgotten in fourth place, and Okaibea-Larbi Pearldrina, who writes as Wordsmith, in fifth place with Weight Of Ancestral Scars. Pearldrina also received the Undiscovered Gem Award for the same poem, in recognition of its originality.
Meet the 2025 New Voices Poetry Contest Winners
Benedicta Kyeremaa Addai is a Ghanaian poet whose work explores womanhood, silence, and selfhood. Her poems have appeared in Creative Project GH, The Feminist Code, and Global Writers Project. She is an alumna of the Spring Writing Fellowship and the 2023 Nadelí Café Bootcamp.
Denoo Edinam Yawo is a Ghanaian poet and writer whose work delves into themes of the body, the politics of language, spirituality, and faith at the intersection of living. She is a 2025 Black Atlantic Residency Fellow, the 2024 Second Runner-Up and the 2025 First Runner-Up of the Adinkra Poetry Prize. She is also a recipient of the 2025 DUAPA Mentorship Program. Her work has appeared in or is forthcoming in The Kalahari Review, Akpata Magazine, Akowdee Magazine and others.
Estella Esinam Apenuvor is a Ghanaian poet and English language teacher with a deep passion for African literature. She co-won the Adinkra Poetry Prize in 2023, placed as second runner-up for the Abena Korantemaa Oral History Prize in 2020, and was shortlisted for the Samira Bawumia Literature Prize that same year. Her poems and essays have appeared in Writers Space Africa-Ghana and the Journal of the Writers Project of Ghana. Estella is also the founder of Upstage Edutainment, an initiative that nurtures young talents and uses performance and literature to spark critical conversations in schools.
At 21, Okaibea-Larbi Pearldrina is a final-year Electrical and Electronic Engineering student at the University of Mines and Technology, whose love for words shines through her writing and spoken word performances.
Derrick Osae-Koranteng is a Biomedical Sciences student and emerging writer writing as ‘Scott Frost’ with a passion for storytelling, poetry, and African identity. His work often explores themes of ancestry, tradition, and memory, drawing inspiration from everyday life and Ghana’s rich oral heritage. When not writing, he participates in debate, academic competitions, and creative projects that amplify youth voices.
Congratulations everyone!
Bakare Oluwatobiloba
I write to educate, motivate and define history with literature. Just being me!
