The Joe Ushie Literature Foundation has announced the 10 poems shortlisted for the 2026 Joe Ushie Poetry Prize.
The shortlisted poems and their authors are:
- Asma’u Yahaya “Husnah” Mustapha – All That Glitters Is Gold
- Ifiokobong Etuk – Paper Planes
- Chinwenite Kingsley Onyekwelu – Father Figurine
- Clive Uche – Lying in State
- Annah Atane – Stabat Mater
- Ridwan Fassasi – Futorolepsy
- Rachael Ajisafe – Telemachus Was Not a Daughter
- Ahmed Saleh Michika – We Count What Remains
- Ismail Bala – A Stratigraphy of a Name
- Progress Luke – Cartography of a Wounded Earth
The 10 shortlisted poems were selected from a total of fifty-one poems out of two hundred and thirty-six entries submitted. The longlist, which was announced earlier in the prize cycle, included:
- Wisdom Ofonze – 25th Night
- Joemario Umana – Because I am Here, I Call Each of These Things a Name
- Emediong Imowo – Untitled Entry
- Ismail Bala – A Stratigraphy of a Name
- Henry Opeyemi – The Colour My Prayers Become
- Uduma Kalu – I Am Still Eager
- Aderemi Oluwafunminiyi Ewaoluwa – Shall we prey?
- Ahmed Saleh Michika – We Count What Remains
- Asma’u Yahaya “Husnah” Mustapha – All That Glitters Is Gold
- Ife Olatona – Golgotha
- Chisom Okoronkwo – Language as a Foreign Deity
- Godwin Obaji – The Commandment of Rainbow
- Felix Eshiet – Seasonal Affairs
- Ifunanya Ilodianya – It Is a New Morning
- Ifiokobong Etuk – Paper Planes
- Progress Luke – Cartography of a Wounded Earth
- Ridwan Fassasi – Futorolepsy
- Sa’ada Isa Yahaya – Case for an alternative mode of surrender
- Christian Emecheta – A Psalm for a Country on the Guillotine
- Clive Uche – Lying in State
- Saheed Sunday – My Body keeps Your Secrets
- Chinma Udeji – Line Three
- Okoli Stephen Chinonso – Jos
- John Chinaka Onyeche – One Time at a Time
- Rachael Ajisafe – Telemachus Was Not a Daughter
- Edwin Onwuka – Lost Pedestrians
- Landy Dan-Gogo Itumu – Inheritance of Dust
- Aleshinloye Abdul-Afeez – Untitled Entry
- Obiotika Wilfrid Tochukwu – Elegy for a Voice Taken Alive
- Nkasiobi Mbonu – The World from the Corner of my Eyes is Blue
- Timi Sanni – Mother Tongue
- Benjamin Eshebi Eshebi – This Country Is Not a Metaphor
- Monioluwa Ojisafe – Untitled Entry
- Tukur Loba Ridwan – A Poem Comes Out of a Hole in a Country’s Heart
- Adedire Adekunle Peter – How to sketch the jingling corners of your city if Google cannot explicitly connect to its server
- Frank Ezechi – Even the waters won’t take us
- Igbinosa Nosa – The boy Who Ate Light
- Anamelechi Esther – Girls Who Learn
- Marvellous Mmesomachi Igwe – Dispossessed
- Ogedengbe Tolulope – Because Memory, too, Refuses to Die
- Chukwu Emmanuel Chibuzo – A Brief History of Love
- Edith Bernard Udoeyop – Metadata of a Living Ghost
- Annah Atane – Stabat Mater
- Andrew Bula – The Burnt innocents of Yeletawa
- Aishat Oshiokpekhai – The Bird in My Tongue
- Olusegun Ajayi – Crossing Over
- David Jimoh – Lamentations in Red
- Ekemini David Udoh – When the Sky Reaches Back
- Taofeek “Aswagaawy” Ayeyemi – I Make a Mirror of This River
- Chinwenite Kingsley Onyekwelu – Father Figurine
- Akanni Festus Olaniyi – Every Tear Was a Prayer-drop
The Joe Ushie Poetry Prize is an annual prize that recognises excellence in Nigerian poetry and aims to support the growth of Nigerian literature by rewarding and amplifying literary voices. Open to Nigerian citizens aged 18 and above, regardless of where they reside, the prize is awarded each year to the writer of the best original poem.
Congratulations to all shortlisted poets!
