Poetry Contest Cameroon 2026, Slam & Poésie

Quick answer: Monthly poetry contest for poets in Cameroon. Write in French, English, Pidgin or Fulfulde, win cash prizes, earn certificates and detailed scores.

In southern Cameroon the mvet is both a harp-zither and an epic, night-long sung poetry that Fang and Beti bards have carried for generations, while Fulfulde verse is still recited across the north. Between the two sit the poems Cameroonians actually memorised at school, René Philombé's 'L'homme qui te ressemble' first among them, the Anglophone lines of Mbella Sonne Dipoko and Bate Besong, and a slam scene that packs rooms in Yaoundé and Douala and made the slameuse Lydol a national name.

Writory runs a monthly international poetry contest that takes Cameroonian work in any of those languages 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 receives 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 a poem sent from Yaoundé, Douala or Bamenda is read in exactly that company.

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

Why enter

Poems in French and poems in English reach the same judges under the same five criteria, so neither side of the Mungo waits behind the other.
There is no set form, which means a slam text written for the microphone and a quiet sonnet are each read on their own terms.
Twelve separate contests a year, so a poem that misses the 25th only waits until the 1st.
Entry is open from age 13, putting lycée and secondary school writers in the same reading pile as long practising poets.
Cameroonian poets who normally only see a local concours de poésie get a monthly route to an international readership.

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 Cameroonian entrant, 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 ten strongest poems of the month are posted to the public leaderboard at writoryofficial.com/leaderboard.

Slam texts, free verse, sonnets, praise poems, haiku and long narrative verse are all accepted, in French, English, Cameroonian Pidgin, Fulfulde, Duala, Ewondo 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 in French but perform in Pidgin. Which one do I submit?

Either, or both in the same poem. Writory accepts poems in any language, so French, English, Pidgin, Fulfulde and mixed language work are all valid entries, and you never need to supply a translation alongside them.

Does a slam text count, or do you only want page poetry?

A slam text counts. The judges score the written poem on creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme, so a piece built for the microphone is read with the same care as one built for the page, and those five scores land in your Writory profile.

What will it cost me to submit from Cameroon?

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 results come on the 30th, so a poem sent early in the month is settled before that month ends, with its scores saved to your profile.

By the Writory editorial team. Updated July 2026.

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