The NIGERIAN NEWSDIRECT CHAPBOOK AWARDS is an initiative of Poetry Column-NND that seeks to promote the voices of Nigerian poets, as the column does weekly in our newspaper. We hope to prioritise consistency of the award, and in so doing, document the vibrant work being put out by contemporary Nigerian poets.
Two selected poets will each win:
- N100,000
- Hardcopy Chapbook published by Poetry Column-NND
Submission Window: Jan 20 – Feb 20, 2026
GUIDELINES:
- Send a chapbook of 25 pages, excluding acknowledgement, table of contents and dedication.
- Submit the chapbook manuscript through the email: newsdirectchapbook@gmail.com
- Your Bio should be on the body of the email and not on the manuscript.
- Submissions are open to any Nigerian poet without a full-length poetry collection at the time of submission.
- We would appreciate a thematically coherent manuscript.
- Submission opens 20th January to 20th February, 2026.
- .Plagiarism and use of AI will not be tolerated.
TERMS
- Only manuscripts which meet our standards will be considered for publication.
- Selected manuscripts will be published (hardcopy and e-version)– for free
- Authors retain copyrights to their work, but give us the sole rights to electronically distribute same.