The Sabi Prize

The Sabi Prize for Critical Reading and Writing awards the finest young writers and thinkers in the nation.

[OPEN COUNTRY MAG @OpenCountryMag]

As part of a partnership with the Sabi Prize (@SabiPrize), the three winning essays are published on Open Country Mag. The founders said in their official announcement, “We are thrilled to be working with Open Country Magazine, the perfect home for a project such as this. The precision and the rigor they bring to covering the most important literature and film are singular, and we are pleased that the inaugural winners of the Sabi Prize will have their words in OCM’s pages.”

The first-place winner will receive ₦1 million, while the second- and third-place winners receive ₦750,000 and ₦500,000 respectively. Each of the remaining finalists in the Top Ten will receive ₦100,000. It is a total of ₦2,950,000 ($2,165).

https://t.co/fjRT0ImPqV

[OPEN COUNTRY MAG @OpenCountryMag]

At a time when Nigeria’s reading culture is increasingly imperiled, and serious thought is treated as indulgence, the Sabi Prize (@SabiPrize) for Critical Reading and Writing is concerned with our important constituency: young people.

https://t.co/RlHdEzyTBy

[OPEN COUNTRY MAG @OpenCountryMag]

"The permanently restrictive nature of their physical environment, joined with the trap of their survival-fueled economy, leaves an ecosystem constantly working against and damaging itself. In this parasitic ecosystem, no human can survive. Only machines."

Read The Sabi Prize's (@SabiPrize) second placing winning entry, “The Lagos Life: Labour and Loss in Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood,�� by Pearl Okereke here:
https://t.co/wPMAhlO2e9

[OPEN COUNTRY MAG @OpenCountryMag]

"Without fail, Emecheta uses Nnu-Ego’s pain towards her husband’s job and the tactless pride he takes in it — which she considers demeaning and too soft for a man — to mirror the lost sense of masculinity in Chapter Four."

Read Sekinat Agbeleshola's essay, “Pressed and Empty: The Dehumanizing Structures of Colonial Lagos in Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood,” which came third place in the 2026 @SabiPrize for Critical Reading and Writing: https://t.co/wPMAhlO2e9

[The Sabi Prize @SabiPrize]

We are excited to share essays by the top winners of the 2025 Sabi Prize for Critical Reading and Writing. Thanks to our partners at Open Country Mag for publishing!

[OPEN COUNTRY MAG @OpenCountryMag]

The Sabi Prize (@SabiPrize) for Critical Reading and Writing has announced the winners of its inaugural edition. From approximately 220 submissions from students across 56 schools in 16 states, Juanita Douglas-Jombo, Pearl Okereke, and Sekinat Agbeleshola emerged as the top three.

Founded by Chukwuka Odigbo and Dawn Chinagorom-Abiakalam to encourage critical reading and writing among young Nigerians, the Sabi Prize is open to students in SS1 through SS3 resident in the country; citizenship is not an eligibility requirement, and homeschooled students and students taking a gap year are also eligible to participate upon request.

Chukwuka told Open Country Mag, “We were excited to receive carefully crafted essays that showed our entrants had thought about the text they were asked to read. There’s a deluge of news reports on a literacy crisis among young children; we should be thoughtful and unrelenting in how we tackle it. Part of me is also thinking about Okonjo-Iweala’s speech where she talks about different ‘aid’ players doing different things and then asks about the opportunity to consolidate for more targeted impact. Yes, the Sabi Prize is important, but how do we solve the problem in a structural way?”

Continue reading: https://t.co/fjRT0ImhBn

[OPEN COUNTRY MAG @OpenCountryMag]

The Sabi Prize (@SabiPrize) for Critical Reading and Writing has announced the winners of its inaugural edition. From approximately 220 submissions from students across 56 schools in 16 states, Juanita Douglas-Jombo, Pearl Okereke, and Sekinat Agbeleshola emerged as the top three.

Founded by Chukwuka Odigbo and Dawn Chinagorom-Abiakalam to encourage critical reading and writing among young Nigerians, the Sabi Prize is open to students in SS1 through SS3 resident in the country; citizenship is not an eligibility requirement, and homeschooled students and students taking a gap year are also eligible to participate upon request.

Chukwuka told Open Country Mag, “We were excited to receive carefully crafted essays that showed our entrants had thought about the text they were asked to read. There’s a deluge of news reports on a literacy crisis among young children; we should be thoughtful and unrelenting in how we tackle it. Part of me is also thinking about Okonjo-Iweala’s speech where she talks about different ‘aid’ players doing different things and then asks about the opportunity to consolidate for more targeted impact. Yes, the Sabi Prize is important, but how do we solve the problem in a structural way?”

Continue reading: https://t.co/fjRT0ImhBn

[The Sabi Prize @SabiPrize]

We are excited to share that the judges for the 2025 Sabi Prize for Critical Reading and Writing are Adachioma Ezeano and Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo!

We look forward to sharing results with contestants, their supporters, and the public over the next few weeks.

[The Sabi Prize @SabiPrize]

Phase 2 of the 2025 Sabi Prize closed on January 26, 2026. We hope to announce results in April.

[The Sabi Prize @SabiPrize]

It's 5 days to the October 17 deadline of the Sabi Prize for Critical Reading and Writing.

Submit your essay now at https://t.co/SM8Kxf1NVT

Questions? Email us via [email protected]

We can't wait to read your work!

[The Sabi Prize @SabiPrize]

@Teacher_Dii We can't seem to DM you directly, but if you'd like any additional information, please feel free to send us a DM or an email at [email protected] and we'll get back to you! We are looking forward to reading your students' entries!

[The Sabi Prize @SabiPrize]

We're officially announcing The Sabi Prize for Critical Reading and Writing. 2025 will mark the first year of the prize, and it will recur annually.

Over the next few days, we will share more about the prize on our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook channels.

[The Sabi Prize @SabiPrize]

@Teacher_Dii Hi, thanks for reaching out! Please let us know if some of the following pages are helpful!

Contest details: https://t.co/I94zpe8CUx (includes essay topic)

Submissions page: https://t.co/PzaauNh4xg

Eligibility: https://t.co/vgKwGYJxEd

Please let us know any more questions!

[The Sabi Prize @SabiPrize]

To learn more about us, please visit our website at https://t.co/ga3Lfxx7Pu