Fee
(Venmo or Mobile money)
Deadline For Submissions
Meet The Judges
Dr. Tryphena Yeboah
Tryphena Yeboah is the author of A Mouthful of Home (Akashic Books, 2020). She received an MA in Development Communication from the Ghana Institute of Journalism and an MFA in Creative Writing from Chapman University. She holds a doctoral degree in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is the winner of the 2021 Narrative Prize and a 2024 Caine Prize finalist. Her essays and stories have been published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Chicago Review of Books, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Lit Hub, and December Magazine, among others. In 2024, her short story was selected for the Pushcart Prize series. She is an Assistant Professor of English and the Director of Creative Writing at Tennessee Wesleyan University.
Dr. Kwabena Opoku-Agyeman
Kwabena Opoku-Agyemang is a senior lecturer in the English Department at the University of Ghana. He is also the Academic Director for SIT Ghana, a study abroad program.
Opoku-Agyemang's research revolves around African literature with a focus on digital creative expression. He has published articles on topics such as flash fiction in Ghana, the use of technology in African literature, and the representation of slavery in West African digital literature. He has also guest-edited special issues of journals such as the Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds and Postcolonial Text.
Submissions are open to writers aged 18 and older who are Ghanaian citizens currently living in Ghana or North America.
Writers who have published a full length manuscript in any genre are not eligible.
Guidelines
Submit no more than one (1) poem per submission.One submission per person. Additional submissions will not be read. Poems may be any length, any style, or any subject but must incorporate the chosen Adinkra symbol and its meaning.
Do not include any identifying information in the submission document
We request that you submit unpublished poems only.
We accept simultaneous submissions but please notify us if your work is picked up elsewhere.
All previous winners and finalists are eligible to apply as long as they have not published a chapbook or full-length manuscript.
All questions can be submitted to adinkrapoetryprize@gmail.com
Finalists and winners will be announced in May 2026 and be invited for an award ceremony at the All African Women Poetry Festival. Finalists will be asked to submit audio recordings of poems for final judging.
Winner will submit a proposal in consideration for a 4 week residency at Watermill, NY and will receive email updates on this in June 2026.
The committee holds the right to not select winners based on the quality of submissions.
The prize is supported by the University of Rhode Island, Adinkra Projects, Center for Humanities (University of New Hampshire) and the Mellon Mays Foundation. This year we are collaborating with Tuniq Africa LGB.
1st place
5000 GHS
2nd place
2000 GHS
3rd place
1000 GHS