A former student of the Wesley Girls Senior High School, Maame Akua Akyaa Koduah was on Saturday night adjudged the winner in a poetry contest on illegal mining by the Ghana Writers Awards (GWA).

Maame Akyaa’s poet, tilted: “The Cry Of The Land” captured how illegal mining, popularly called ‘galamsey’ has affected every organism in the environment.

She was shortlisted together with two others, Yvette D. Adusei and Kweku Taylor.

Maame Akua Akyaa Koduah is currently a level 300 law student at the University of Ghana (UG).

Ghana Writers Awards is a literary prize instituted by some young Ghanaian literary arts compatriots to celebrate and promote Ghanaian writers and literature, particularly unpublished young writers.

Maame Akua Akyaa Koduah with some dignitaries at the awards, including Mr Edmund Kofi Yeboah (General Secretary of GJA), Mr David Kankam Boadu (Aspiring National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and Mr Zadok K. Gyesi (President of GWA)

The awards will be held on the theme: "My art my life; creating more opportunities for the youth in the literary art industry in Ghana."

Five literary genres, including Poetry, Short Story, Literature Blog, Spoken Word, and Poetry Contest on illegal mining were considered for the award.

A section of the audience at the awards

The maiden edition of the awards was held on Saturday, October 29, 2016 at Marvels Ghana Mini Golf Course in Accra with over 800 people in attendance.

Other winners in the competition included Paa Kwesi Arko Cee (Short Story Category), Celestine Nudanu (Literature Blogging), and Kwao Jonathan Tetteh (Poetry category).

Maame Akua Akyaa Koduah (right) in a photograph with her mother and sister after picking the award

Below is the list of nominees in the four categories.

 

SHORT STORY CATEGORY

University of Hard Knocks – Philip Arko Ewusi

Liberia Woman – Samuel Owusu Achiaw

Prayer Mongers – Nana Yaa Asantewaa Asante

Faded Beauty –Robert Owuodihia

Incapacitated – Nana Ama Gyemaah Otuahene

The Sound Of Silence – Ruby Yayra Goka

Ruky and Buky – Serebour Badu Prosper.

 

LITERATURE BLOG CATEGORY

Celestine Nudanu

The Creative Arts Society

 

POETRY ON GALAMSEY CATEGORY

Dig Deeper – Yvette D. Adusei

The Dying Digger – Kweku Taylor

The Cry of the Land – Maame Akua Akyaa Koduah.

 

POETRY CATEGORY

The Piano Phone – Logoh Selorm Philip

Gentle Lucifer – Mohammed Shamsu-deen

A Thousand Mystics— Kofi Acquah

A Letter to My Oppressor – Emmanuel Agyei-Poku

That Jesus Name – Adjei-Arthur Bonsue

The Plight of a House Help – Gabla Godwin

Africa of Old – Sacket Anthony Djaba

Little Black Children – Gayi Eyram C.

An Elegy for Awonoor –Abelumkeamah Bertrand Azags

A Toil In The Dark – Kwao Jonathan Tetteh

Of Our Land – Ekow Dodd

The Making of Silence – Nana Karikari Akyempo Prempeh.

 

Ghana Writers Awards was organised in partnership with Resolute Consult, Mensa Press, Turf, Poets In Nigeria (PIN), Self-Publishing Africa, Munyori Literary Journal, Presspeep.com.