Wesley Girls student wins Ghana Writers Awards
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).
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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by some young Ghanaian literary arts compatriots to celebrate and promote Ghanaian writers and literature, particularly unpublished young writers.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.
Dignitaries at the award included the General Secretary of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Edmund Kofi Yeboah; Aspiring National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr David Kankam Boadu, and Evangelist Frank Nana Gyesi, the Founder and General Overseer of the Givers’ Outreach Dominion.