We have our winners of the N20,000 cash prize for week 25.
A Tale Of Two Eclipses by Roselyn Sho-Olajide emerged tops for our two Judges followed by Deja Vu by Johnson Onyedikachi.
A Judge commended Roselyn thus: “The writer was very descriptive that one could almost see the village and the characters she wrote about. Jumping from the present to the past seamlessly without leaving the reader feeling lost and trying to catch-up, was another plus for me.”
Another had this to say: “Very impressive submissions this time around albeit fewer. Too close to call between Onyedikachi Johnson and Roseline Sho- Olajide. I had to appraise their submissions by the rules of the essay competition. They both had mechanically accurate essays and dwelt on a similar topic. However, Onyedikachi’s construct which tried to narrate a deja vu experience, turned out to be in part, a writer’s imaginative composition relived. This slightly veers away from the guidelines for this topic: a story about the same event in the same city but taking place at different time periods. Onyedikachi’s submission strictly wasn’t about events that actually happened in the same city etc as the topic demands.” This is where Roselyn edged him.
Echoing some of what I harped on last week about writing within the context, the Judge went continued: “Quite impressed with the new entrant who turned out my favorite writer and easily usurped Johnson Onyedikachi who had dominated in earlier times. I almost had given it to Johnson after reading his submission and found myself in a bit of a jam after I had read hers. I had to resort to the rules to make a decision, found that something worth talking about. Congratulations to you for keeping up with this!”
As usual, “Peace Habila made an equally impressive submission with Double Portion Of Excitement and deserves commendation. Her use of descriptive imagery will earn her a place in creative writing if she keeps on at it. Equally found her almost neck to neck with Oluwaseun Osanyinro” whose piece titled The Height Of Confusion illuminated the cross-dressing bug.
Oladejo Victor put in a good piece in The Blue Corolla. However, the writer must work harder to reduce the many syntax errors that continually mar his thesis. Brilliant submissions all round this time”
A detailed correction of each essay will be sent to the writers as feedback.
Congratulations to everyone.
