The Institute of Arts and Culture in Collaboration with Celi & Joe Ajienka Chair for Arts and Culture and the American Corner, University of Port Harcourt, is organizing Gabriel Okara Annual Literary Festival in honour of Dr. Gabriel Okara, the first renowned English-Language black African poet, scheduled to take place from 25th – 28th April, 2017.


The Prizes are listed below
First prize = N200,000
Second prize = N 100,000
Third prize = N 50,000
Two Consolations = N 25,000 each

NOTE: The Gabriel Okara Prize will be awarded to a genre of literature each year:

Poetry (2017), Prose (2018) and Drama (2019).

The rules to be Observed as participants for the competitions

1. This year’s prize is open to African poets, defined as those who were born in Africa, or who are nationals of African country, or whose parents are Africans.

2. The prize opens for submissions from January 15, 2017 to February 28, 2017.

3. All entries must be submitted via email only to gabrielokara.iac@uniport.edu.ng. An acknowledgement will be sent.

4. Poems must be emailed in a SINGLE Word document attachment (not PDF) – with an index cover page that contains the entrant’s name, nationality, country of birth, full address including country of permanent residence, personal email address and telephone number.

5. Under no circumstances can alterations be made to poems once entered.

6. Under no circumstances will the organizers or judges enter into discussions with entrants who have submitted for the prize.

7. The prize organizers reserve the right to not award the prize if, in the judges’ opinion, such an action is justified.

8. The judges’ decision is final.

9. Entries not complying with the competition’s rules will be disqualified.

Rules to be observed when composing the poem

Each entrant must submit five (5) poems to be eligible.
Poems must be the original work of the entrant.
All entries are judged anonymously and the poet’s name must not appear on the poem itself.
All poems must have a title and must not exceed 40 lines in length (excluding title). Entries can be on any subject.
Entries should be single spaced with font size of 12pts, Times New Roman.
Entries must be written in English.

Rules to be Observed as the winner

The result and commendations will be announced during the Festival Award Night.
The winners will be notified in advance and invited to attend the Award Night Ceremony in April 2017.
The winner must be available via email or by phone to reply promptly to correspondence.
Winning poems may be published in I.A.C’s Journal of Creative Writing, website or in an anthology of poems.
Winners will be invited to read at events and festivals organized by the Institute of Arts and Culture, University of Port Harcourt.

source:http://www.eaglegist.com/2017/01/gebriel-okaka-literary-festival-comp.html