Poetry Contest Botswana 2026, Maboko & Verse

Quick answer: Monthly poetry contest for poets in Botswana. Write maboko in Setswana or verse in English, win cash prizes, earn certificates and detailed judge scores.

In Setswana a praise poem is a leboko, maboko in the plural, and reciting the praises of dikgosi, of cattle and of home has long been Botswana's high verbal art. L.D. Raditladi carried that music into print with his collection Sefalana sa Menate. The line runs on through TJ Dema of Gaborone, a founding member of the Exodus Live Poetry! collective whose book The Careless Seamstress won the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets, and through Poetavango, the collective that has kept spoken word alive in Maun since 2008.

Writory runs a monthly international poetry contest that takes all of that work as it is, with no translation required at any stage. Entries open on the 1st, close on the 25th and results are published on the 30th. Winners take cash prizes, every entrant collects a participation certificate, and each poem comes back with a score across creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme saved to the poet's profile. Poets from more than 50 countries have entered Writory, and poems from Batswana writers are read in exactly that company.

Writory holds a monthly international poetry contest that poets in Botswana can enter in Setswana, English, Ikalanga or any other language, with cash prizes for winners and a certificate for everyone who submits.

Why enter

Setswana and English entries reach the same judges under the same five criteria, so writing in Setswana costs a poem nothing in the reading.
There is no set form, which means a leboko built on praise lines and a page of quiet free verse are each read on their own terms.
Twelve separate contests a year, so missing the 25th one month costs you nothing more than a wait until the 1st.
Entry is open from age 13, putting junior secondary writers and long practising poets in the same reading pile.
Poets used to sharing work at an open mic in Gaborone or Maun get a monthly route to an international readership on the page.

What winners and entrants receive

Cash prizes for the winning poems, announced on the 30th of the month you entered.
A participation certificate for every entrant from Botswana, placing or not.
Win a month and your next entry costs nothing, and the same applies after three months of entering in a row.
The strongest poems of the month go up on the public leaderboard at writoryofficial.com/leaderboard.

Maboko, praise lines for people and places, spoken word pieces set down on the page, haiku and open free verse are all accepted, in Setswana, English, Ikalanga or whichever language the poem arrived in.

Key facts

Entries open the 1st, close the 25th at 11:59 PM IST, results on the 30th.
One poem $5, two poems $8, five poems $15 (Rs 150 / Rs 220 / Rs 450 in India).
Every poem scored by human judges on five criteria: creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme.
A participation certificate for every entrant, not only winners, and the score is visible in your profile.
Cash prizes for winners, free entry the following month for winners, open worldwide from age 13, any language.

Questions

I write maboko in Setswana. Can I enter without an English translation?

Yes. Writory accepts poems in any language, so Setswana, English, Ikalanga and mixed language work are all valid entries, and you never need to supply a translation alongside them.

My work is spoken word. Does it stand a chance on the page?

Yes, if the writing holds without the voice. Judges score what is on the page across creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme, and those five numbers land in your Writory profile where you can read them yourself.

What will it cost me to submit from Botswana?

Fees are charged in US dollars: $5 buys one poem, $8 buys two and $15 buys five. Winners pay nothing the month after they win, and three consecutive months of entering also earns a free entry.

How long is the wait between submitting and finding out?

Submission runs from the 1st to the 25th and the announcement comes on the 30th, so a poem sent early in the month is settled before that month ends.

By the Writory editorial team. Updated July 2026.

Enter the August contest · International poetry contest · Past winners · Read the winning poems