Poetry Contest Tanzania 2026, Mashairi Welcome

Quick answer: Monthly poetry contest for Tanzanian poets. Write in Kiswahili or English, shairi, utenzi or free verse, win cash prizes, certificates and detailed scores.

Swahili verse is measured in vina and mizani, the rhymes and syllable counts that give the classical shairi its shape, and Tanzania has argued over them longer and louder than anywhere else. Shaaban Robert of Tanga carried the tradition into the school syllabus, Mathias Mnyampala created the ngonjera, verse argued aloud as dialogue, and in 1974 Euphrase Kezilahabi's Kichomi broke the metre entirely and opened the ushairi huru debate that Tanzanian poets are still having.

Writory runs a monthly international poetry contest that takes Tanzanian work exactly as it comes, in Kiswahili, English or both, 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 scored on five counts: creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme. Poets from more than 50 countries have entered Writory, and mashairi from Dar es Salaam or Zanzibar are read in exactly that company.

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

Why enter

Kiswahili and English entries reach the same judges under the same five criteria, so a shairi never waits behind an English poem or the other way round.
There is no set form, so a shairi that keeps its vina and mizani and an ushairi huru piece that keeps neither 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 sekondari writers and long practising malenga in the same reading pile.
Tanzanian poets who normally only see a local shindano la ushairi 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 Tanzanian 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.
Top entries appear on the public leaderboard at writoryofficial.com/leaderboard.

Shairi, utenzi, ngonjera, wimbo, haiku and open free verse are all accepted, in Kiswahili, English 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 Kiswahili. Can I enter without translating my poem?

Yes. Writory accepts poems in any language, so Kiswahili, English and mixed language work are all valid entries, and no translation is ever asked for at any stage.

Will a classical shairi with full vina and mizani lose out to free verse, or the other way round?

Neither. There is no set form to favour, and every poem is scored on the same five criteria: creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme. A shairi that keeps its vina and mizani and a free verse piece that keeps neither are marked on craft, not on the form they chose.

What will it cost me to submit from Tanzania?

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 in secondary school. Am I old enough to enter?

Entry is open from age 13, so sekondari students submit alongside adults, and every entrant collects the same participation certificate and is scored on the same five criteria.

How long is the wait between submitting and the results?

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