The Arole Agarawu Foundation has opened submissions for the inaugural Alhaji Arole Agarawu African Poetry Prize, inviting poets of African descent worldwide to submit original, unpublished poetry.
The prize is established in memory of Alhaji Arole Agarawu (1930s–1995), whose work contributed significantly to Yoruba musical traditions such as Sakara, Apala, and Waka. Through the prize, the Foundation seeks to recognize poets who demonstrate strong attention to form, language, and rhythm while continuing the tradition of African lyric expression.
Two awards will be presented from a shortlist of ten poets. The Alhaji Arole Agarawu African Poetry Prize carries a cash award of $1,000 and is open to any eligible poet of African descent living anywhere in the world. The Arole Grayling Wraith Prize, also valued at $1,000, will be awarded to a poet residing on the African continent and includes the production of a video performance of a selected poem through the prize’s media partner, Grayling and Wraith.
Submission Guidelines:
- Eligibility is open to poets of African descent aged 18 or older. However, poets who have published more than two full-length poetry collections are not eligible to apply.
- Entrants are required to submit a packet of ten original, unpublished poems written in English or accompanied by an English translation.
- Submissions must not exceed 15 pages and should be formatted as a Word document (.doc or .docx) or PDF file.
- All manuscripts must be anonymous, with no identifying information included in the document.
- Only human-created works are accepted; AI-generated submissions will be disqualified.
- Email submissions will not be accepted.
- To submit your entry, click here.
The submission window closes May 31, 2026, at 11:59 PM EST.
Meet The Judge
Matthew Shenoda is a writer, professor, and author and editor of several books. His poems and essays have appeared in newspapers, journals, radio programs, and anthologies. His debut collection of poems, Somewhere Else (Coffee House Press), was named one of 2005’s debut books of the year by Poets & Writers Magazine and was a winner of a 2006 American Book Award.
He is also the author of Seasons of Lotus, Seasons of Bone (BOA Editions Ltd.), editor of Duppy Conqueror: New & Selected Poems by Kwame Dawes, author of Tahrir Suite: Poems (Northwestern University Press), winner of the 2015 Arab American Book Award, editor of Bearden’s Odyssey: Poets Respond to the Art of Romare Bearden (Northwestern University Press, 2017) and author of The Way of the Earth (Northwestern University Press, 2022). His latest book is Holdings (forthcoming, Knopf, 2027).
Shenoda began his teaching career in the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University, where he taught for nearly a decade and has since held several faculty and administrative positions at various institutions. Currently, he is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Literary Arts and an affiliated faculty member in Africana Studies at Brown University. Additionally, Shenoda is currently faculty for Cave Canem and a founding editor of the African Poetry Book Fund and both the African Poetry Book Series and the On African Poetry book series.
Best of luck to all applicants!
