Izeowayi Izaza Victor has won the first edition of the BBC News Pidgin essay competition titled,
“Is Africa’s youth ready for political leadership’’
Izeowayi is from Rivers State and currently studies Marketing at the University of Port Harcourt. The 21-year-old is a keen writer, poet and football fan who is passionate about youth participation in governance.
The winning essay will be shown on BBC News Pidgin and Izeowayi will be awarded at a ceremony on October 22 in Ikeja, Lagos where he will read out his essay to a specially invited audience.
Chosen from amongst 18 other entries submitted by talented, young African writers, Izeowayi’s winning piece focused on the paradox of how Africa, which has 60 per cent of its population from a younger demographic, often produces political leaders with an average age of 70 years and above.
His essay included key factors which led to this situation such as:
1. Political apathy
2. Materialism among young people
3. Lack of unity among young people
4. Absence of proper education
Izeowayi says he entered the competition because he felt his voice should be heard as a young person in Africa. He went on to say, “When I first heard about the competition, I took it as a personal challenge. This is the first essay I have written in the language I love. As soon as I got the news , I was speechless and emotional. I am truly grateful to the BBC for this great honour.”
In its first year, the essay competition was introduced to highlight the beauty of the written form of Pidgin language. Known as a largely spoken language, the essay writing series is aimed at contributing to the development of the written form of Pidgin language amongst young people across the region.
Adejuwon Soyinka Head of the Pidgin Service said:
“I am excited about the opportunity that BBC Pidgin represents for young men and women across West and Central Africa and even in the Diaspora, for whom Pidgin is a lingua franca. Even more exciting is the fact that the BBC Pidgin Annual Essay Writing Competition is a concept that has not only come to stay, but is poised to further entrench the culture of writing in Pidgin.”
Head Judge Nkemngong Nkengasong said:
“I was excited to judge a competition like this. It is a major step to give West and central Africans universal status. This will show sceptics that Pidgin is a proper language in its own right with grammar rules which can be tested. I was delighted because I could put my experience of Pidgin writing to the test.”
Head of World Service West Africa Languages Oluwatoyosi Ogunseye said:
“This year’s winner epitomizes the diversity, strength and creativity of the African youth. We hope that this competition continues to be a platform for young people all over the world to start conversations that matter to them.”
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For more information and interview requests please contact
BBC World Service Group Communications –Marina Forsythe marina.forsythe@bbc.co.uk
Notes to editors
BBC News Pidgin reaches a weekly audience of 7.5m people (2018) – in Nigeria and around the world on radio, online , Facebook and Instagram. BBC News Pidgin is part of the BBC World Service.
BBC World Service’s BBC Africa hub brings together the production of multilingual content about the continent on radio, on TV and online on bbcafrica.com. As it delivers content in Afaan Oromo, Amharic, English, French, Hausa, Igbo, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Pidgin, Somali, Tigrinya, Kiswahili and Yoruba. BBC Africa ensures a pan-African approach to the output, offering its audiences opportunities to join the global conversation. BBC Africa has teams based in London and across much of sub-Saharan Africa, and has well established production centres in various cities. Follow BBC Africa on Twitter, Facebook,Google+, Instagram, Soundcloud and YouTube
Judges
Adejuwon Soyinka, Editor of the BBC News Pidgin Service, is a multiple award-winning journalist and editor, with 19 years of experience in the media industry.
Since the launch of the BBC Pidgin Service on August 21, 2017, Adejuwon has managed a team of young, professional journalists, daily producing exclusive, original content about West and Central Africa in Pidgin language across digital platforms. Many of these original stories have created great impact both locally and internationally. A testament to this is the fact that stories produced by the BBC News Pidgin Service have been picked up by other media organisations such as, Independent UK, New York Times, Washington Post and several other national publications in Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon to name just a few.
Nkemngong Nkengasong is a prolific Cameroonian writer, critic and scholar whose works traverse genres and disciplines. He received a PhD from the University of Yaounde 1 in 2004 and he is currently a Professor of Literature and Cultural Studies at the same university. Apart from his creative works, he has published extensively on African Literature and Culture, British and Postcolonial Literatures and Cameroonian Pidgin. His monograph, A Grammar of Cameroonian Pidgin, was published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing in 2016. In February 2018, he was awarded the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center fellowship in Italy for academic writing. He has been writer-in-residence at the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program among other writers’ residencies and academic fellowships. He has earned several awards including the title of “Honorary Fellow in Writing” from the University of Iowa (2008), the Eko Prize for Literature (2013) and “Knight of the Cameroon Order of Valour” (2016).
Eriata Oribhabor is a poet and former Chairman of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Abuja chapter. His revolutionary strides as chairman of ANA Abuja returned the chapter to its pride of place as the centre of literary activities, especially with its much celebrated and high profile guest author reading sessions. He championed the maiden edition of the Abuja’s version of the 100 Thousand Poets for Change event.
Renowned as a promoter of Naija languej, Eriata has written and edited poetry books in the language viz; ”Abuja na Kpangba an Oda puem dem” (IFRA-Oribhabor, 2011), If Yu Hie Se A De Prizin; antoloji of puem-dem fo Naija languej, Gud Old Naija (a collection of Essays written in English and spiced with pidgin) and Editor, "Amebo Yad and oda ple-dem” an anthology of plays written in Naija language.
Agana-Nsiire Agana is a Ghanaian theologian, poet, and author. Keenly interested in language as a feature of social invention, he has recently authored the book Master the Pidgin: An Elementary Grammar of Ghanaian Pidgin English. He has also written on the influence of local languages on Ghanaian English. Agana has been active in Ghana’s literary scene since 2004 when he began publishing and performing poetry online and on radio. In 2011, His poem A Bird in Me Heart was reviewed for Ghana Literary Week, and in 2017 his first published short story, The Message, was featured in the UK literary magazine TheWrongQuarterly. A theologian by training, Agana has published numerous journal articles, essays, and reflections on theology and religious philosophy. In his spare time, he is an avid birdwatcher and nature photographer.
Salamatu Sule is a poet and book reviewer. She has reviewed several books by prolific authors of fiction and nonfiction, from Tope Fausua’s Crushed and Things to do before your Career Disappears to Abubakar Ibrahim Adam’s ‘The Whispering Trees’ including Dike Chukwumerije’s Urichindere and many others. Season of Crimson Blossoms by Abubakar Ibrahim Adam is her fourteenth review. Salamatu is the former Secretary, Association of Nigerian Authors and currently holds a Diplomatic Book Discourse with the German Embassy. Sule is the founder of Fahimta Literary Discourse (FLD). As a literary agent, she is currently an agent for the Tana Press and other publishing institutions in Nigeria. Amongst her Pidgin works includes: Politiks Bi Laik Honey fo Naija and Tolo Tolo Make Yanga (A Collection of Anthology compiled and edited by Sir Eriata Oribhabor.)
Marina Forsythe
BBC World Service Group Communications
http://www.bbc.co.uk
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