The contest, organisers said, required contestants to explore Mr Soyinka's Humanism, Artistry, and Nationalism in their thought processes and writing.
Winners of the 2023 Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange (WSICE) Essay Competition have emerged in Ogun State, South-west Nigeria.
This is the literary icon and Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, a professor, on Thursday (today), clocked 89 years of age.
The competition, which draws participants across the secondary schools in the state, is part of the activities to mark the scholar's birthday, as it has been the practice since 2010.
A statement by the organisers said the 2023 edition of the contest marks the 14th edition of the annual youth mentoring and mental capacity development initiative.
"The 2023 edition of the competition focused on Nation Building, Good Governance, and National Development," it said.
This year, the organisers said, a record number of 111 entries were received from 50 schools, out of which a panel of literary and social workers selected 89 finalists.
The contest, they said, required contestants to explore Wole Soyinka's Humanism, Artistry, and Nationalism in their thought processes and writing.
Winners
At the end of the exercise, the organisers announced Akoki Mojolaoluwa, a Senior Secondary School (SS) 2 student of Adedokun International School, Ifo, Ogun State, as the winner of the grand prize while Olugbenga Mojolaoluwa of Salawu Abiola Comprehensive School, Abeokuta, emerged as the first runner-up, and Ezima Margaret of Anglican Girls Grammar School emerged as the second runner-up.
"We thank all schools and students for their participation and remain committed to our goal of fostering unity, bolstering integrity, and instilling qualities of good leadership as values," Executive Producer of the annual competition, Teju Kareem, said.
Mr Kareem said the competition has, since inception, served as a platform to mentor the youths to imbibe the culture of participating in socio-cultural and political discourses in their environment.
"It enables the young ones to engage in healthy dialogue about national and international issues, testing the creativity and intelligence of the participants and building their self-esteem," he said.
About Soyinka
Born in Abeokuta, Ogun State, in 1934 as the second of his parent's seven children, Mr Soyinka is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and activist.
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He attended the Government College, Ibadan, University College Ibadan (now the University of Ibadan) and the University of Leeds in England.
In 1986, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature, the first black African honoured in that category.
The Nobel Laureate has written over 30 plays, many essays, and poetry collections. He also has to his credit memoirs, novels, and short stories, among others.
Mr Soyinka was part of the Nigerian pro-democracy group, National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), which fought against military dictatorship from 1994 until the return of democracy in 1999.
Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe
