MARCH 2025 POETRY CONTEST

 Who you say you are

THEME: I’m a poet

Have you ever met someone and asked them, “Tell me about yourself,” only to be met with silence because they lack the grace to put words together?I believe it will make you wonder just like me—if they know who they are. This month, we challenged poets to own their voices, their truth, and their identity—as poets. We were more like, if you are a poet, then show us who you say you are through lines and stanzas

Trust our poets; they gracefully stepped into the spotlight and revealed their identity through verses that reeked of boldness, identity and a class of creativity that left us speechless. 

Through their poems, they showed us who they are, not just in name, but in essence. 

SUBMISSION CRITERIA

The submission of entries was received through the platform's official website, www.yemipoetproduction.com, as always indicated in the bio. 

With each entry instructed to be no more than 3 stanzas, 15 lines only, the contest commenced on 1st March. By the end of the submission deadline fixed for March 9th, we received a record of 226 poems for the month.  

EVALUATION CRITERIA

We evaluated the poems by reviewing theme engagement, creativity, use of imagery and symbolism, language and structure. Initially, we came up with our top 30 poets after the first level of evaluation. Then, we proceeded to the second level evaluation and had our Top 10 before we finally streamlined it to our Top 3 poets who made it as our winners for the month's contest.

WINNERS SPOTLIGHT

Meet our top 3 poets for the Month. 

1st Place 

Name: Joy Julius 

Title of Work: BON APPETIT 

2nd Place 

Name: Grace Atunbi 

Title of Work: A Poet's Heart Is Never Silent

3rd Place 

Name: Ahmad Umar 

Title of Work: Cultural Poet 

AWARD: The sum of ₦75,000 was awarded to our winners in order of their position. 

OTHER ACTIVITIES

At YemiPoet, we agree monthly contests are our onions — but that’s not all we munch on! 

This month, we also rolled out contests in celebration of special days.

For International Women’s Day, we posted a picture prompt and asked poets to juice short lines in honour of IWD. In the end, three winners walked away gracefully with the sum of ₦15,000 each.

Check out one of our spoken word renditions for International Women's Day, themed 'Accelerate Action'. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nyIdm-E8W-E

World Poetry Day

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In celebration of World Poetry Day, poets were instructed to recite a favourite poem from their childhood memories—this was aimed at bringing back a nostalgic feel of poetry from childhood. 

We had 7 entries and in the end shared the cash prize among the 7 poets, instead of the initial plan of selecting 2 winners who would walk away with the sum of ₦25,000 each. 

OPPORTUNITIES

We received an invitation to the MADhouse Open House Event in celebration of World Poetry Day. In response, we sent an email to our February Top 10, sharing the details of the invite, and stating a key criterion: The first five to respond — and are based in Lagos — would be selected and sponsored. 

This opened our eyes to something stunning our monthly contest attracts poets from all over the world. It is proof that the impact we are making is not limited to a region.  

In the end, a total of 10 poets (not solely from the Previous Top 10 because of the location constraint) attended the event, with 6 of them sponsored with ₦10,000 each and they returned, sharing how inspirational their experiences at the event were! 

RECOGNITION AWARD Who does not love an ever-evolving body? 

No one! Yemipoet prioritizes the recognition of her poets amongst other things and that is why we kick-started a monthly recognition for 2 outstanding poets from our Top 10 list, alongside our top 3 cash prizes because we believe poetry is more than mere words, it is a cycle of influence, passion and consistency! 

The award simply involves

Recognition of social media consistency to poetry, art and storytelling. 

A spotlight feature of the month—an exclusive opportunity to share their works with fellow poets via IG story and more. For March, Poet Hope Haruna 

(@thehopeharuna) was recognized, followed by the King of Poetry, Joseph Daniel (@josephdpoet). 

MORAL LESSON FOR THE MONTH

Whatever you portray of yourself is what people recognize you as. So, redefine yourself by living as who you say you are!

APPRECIATION

Thank you for your consistent participation with us through every activity in March. 

See you in April! 

Gracias