Poetry Contest Sierra Leone 2026, Krio Verse

Quick answer: Monthly poetry contest for Sierra Leonean poets. Write in Krio, English, Mende or Temne, win cash prizes, earn certificates and detailed scores.

Sierra Leone put Krio on the page before most people accepted that a creole belonged in print. Gladys Casely-Hayford is credited as the first poet to write in Krio, her Krio poems collected as Take Um So in 1948, and Thomas Decker pressed the case further by carrying Julius Caesar into the language as Juliohs Siza in 1964. Schoolchildren still meet Abioseh Nicol's The Meaning of Africa in their anthologies, Syl Cheney-Coker carried Freetown into world poetry with Concerto for an Exile and The Graveyard Also Has Teeth, and spoken word nights keep the scene alive in the city that Fourah Bay College, founded in 1827, once made the Athens of West Africa.

Writory runs a monthly international poetry contest that takes that whole inheritance 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 is judged across creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme. Poets from more than 50 countries have entered Writory, and Sierra Leonean work is read in exactly that company.

Writory holds a monthly international poetry contest that Sierra Leonean poets can enter in Krio, English, Mende, Temne or any other language, with cash prizes for winners and a certificate for everyone who submits.

Why enter

Krio, Mende, Temne and English entries reach the same judges under the same five criteria, so a poem in Krio never waits behind one in English.
There is no set form, so a spoken word piece set down on the page and a tight sonnet 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 still reading Abioseh Nicol in class alongside long practising poets.
Poets used to reading their work only at Freetown open mics 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 Sierra Leonean 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.

Krio verse, praise poems, spoken word pieces written out for the page, sonnets, haiku and open free verse are all accepted, in Krio, English, Mende, Temne 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 Krio, and sometimes I mix Krio with English. Can I enter?

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

How can judges score a Krio poem against English free verse fairly?

They do not compare languages, they score craft. Each poem is marked on creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme, and the same five criteria apply to every entry, whatever language it arrives in.

What will it cost me to submit from Sierra Leone?

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.

I am still at secondary school. Am I old enough to enter?

Entry is open from age 13, so most secondary school pupils qualify, and their poems are read by the same judges under the same five criteria as everyone else's.

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