Poetry Contest Malawi 2026, Ndakatulo Welcome

Quick answer: Monthly poetry contest for Malawian poets. Write in Chichewa, English or Tumbuka, win cash prizes, earn certificates and detailed scores on every poem.

In Chichewa a poem is a ndakatulo, and Malawi has treated it as a public art for generations, recited on the radio and performed at school gatherings long before it reaches the page. This is the country of David Rubadiri, whose An African Thunderstorm still opens poetry lessons in classrooms across Africa, of Jack Mapanje, whose Of Chameleons and Gods so troubled the Banda regime that it was withdrawn from circulation and its author jailed for three and a half years without charge, and of Steve Chimombo, who pulled Napolo, the serpent spirit said to sleep under Zomba mountain, into modern verse. That lineage runs through the Malawi Writers Group at Chancellor College and on to the spoken word stages of Lilongwe and Blantyre, where poets like Q Malewezi perform today.

Writory runs a monthly international poetry contest that takes Malawian work as it comes, in Chichewa, English, Tumbuka or any other language, 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 a ndakatulo from Lilongwe is read in exactly that company.

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

Why enter

Chichewa, Tumbuka, Yao and English entries go to the same judges under the same five criteria, so no language waits at the back of the queue.
There is no set form, which means a short Chichewa ndakatulo and a long English free verse piece 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 secondary school writers in Mzuzu in the same reading pile as long practising poets.
Poets used to reading at open mics in Blantyre and Lilongwe 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 Malawian 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 strongest poems of the month are posted to the public leaderboard at writoryofficial.com/leaderboard.

Ndakatulo, praise poetry, spoken word pieces, haiku and open free verse are all accepted, in Chichewa, English, Tumbuka, Yao 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 ndakatulo in Chichewa. Do I have to translate them into English?

No. Writory accepts poems in any language and never asks for a translation, so Chichewa, Tumbuka, Yao, English and mixed language entries all stand exactly as submitted.

How can a Chichewa ndakatulo be judged fairly against an English free verse poem?

Judges do not rank languages or forms against each other, they score craft. Every poem is marked on creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme, and those five scores are saved to your Writory profile for you to read.

What does it cost to enter from Malawi?

Fees are charged in US dollars: $5 for one poem, $8 for two and $15 for five. Win a month and your next entry is free, and entering three months in a row also earns a free entry.

I perform at open mics in Blantyre. Can I enter a piece written for the stage?

Yes. Submit the text of the poem as you would speak it. There is no set form, so a spoken word piece is read on its own terms and scored on the same five criteria as everything else.

How long is the wait between submitting and finding out?

Submission runs from the 1st to the 25th and results are published 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