FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ameen Animashaun and Edinam Denoo Named Winners of the Inaugural Alhaji Arole Agarawu African Poetry Prize
A major international literary prize celebrating Black poets worldwide — “Sounding the Gong of the Black Lyric” across Africa and the global diaspora.
LAGOS, Nigeria & ACCRA, Ghana — October 2026 — The Arole Agarawu Foundation has officially announced the winners of the inaugural Alhaji Arole Agarawu African Poetry Prize, an international literary competition celebrating Black poets and sounding the gong of the Black lyric across the African continent and its worldwide diaspora.
The landmark announcement concludes an extensive reading and deliberation cycle that evaluated 356 submissions and over 3,500 poems from Black writers across 21 countries spanning Africa, North America, the Caribbean, and Europe.
The Overall Winner: Ameen Animashaun
Nigerian poet Ameen Animashaun has been named the overall winner for his suite “Dog Fighting a Heron,” selected by guest judge Professor Matthew Shenoda (Brown University; African Poetry Book Fund). Animashaun receives the $1,000 top prize awarded to an outstanding suite of ten poems by a writer of African descent worldwide.
Guest Judge Matthew Shenoda’s Citation
“In Ameen Animashaun’s suite of poems we are introduced to a keen lyrical eye that refuses to separate the interiority of our being from the landscapes we trod on. Animashaun collapses these spaces into a world that gives us a greater sense of relation to the contemporary and historical ruptures we experience. His work moves the reader though a kind of syntactical arch, an arch that has the ability to bend our sense of time. His poems feel always at the edge of something; maybe it's the edge of a continent, maybe the edge of the world, maybe the edge of time itself, but what is clear is that beyond that edge we sense there is a place of belonging and a glimpse into a much needed mending. These are beautiful poems that make us look beyond our moment and open up to a different future.”
— Matthew Shenoda, Professor & Chair, Department of Literary Arts, Brown University
“It is difficult to overstate what it means to be the inaugural winner of this prize. I believe deeply in the importance of institutions that take African poetry seriously, that make space for the range of work being written across the continent and its diasporas, and that help build a lasting record of that work. To have my poems recognized in this way, and to be part of the beginning of what I believe will become an important prize in African poetry, is an incredible honor.”
— Ameen Animashaun
About Ameen Animashaun: Ameen is a writer whose work has appeared in Poets.org, Rattle Magazine, Salamander, and elsewhere. A graduate of WashU’s MFA program, he won the 2025 Evaristo Prize for African Poetry, the 2024 Academy of American Poets A.E. Claeyssens Jr. Poetry Prize, and the 2024 Starshine and Clay Fellowship. His full-length manuscript was a finalist for the Sillerman First Book Prize, and his chapbook “Calling a Spade” is forthcoming through APBF and Akashic Books. He lives in Denver, where he works in higher education.
The Arole Grayling Wraith Prize: Edinam Denoo
Ghanaian poet Edinam Denoo has been awarded the Arole Grayling Wraith Prize for her suite “Bonu Bonu Kpoo.” Generously supported by media partner Grayling and Wraith, this dedicated continental award provides $1,000 to an eligible shortlisted poet living on the African continent, accompanied by a production-grade cinematic video adaptation of a selected poem from the winning suite.
“Receiving the Arole Grayling Wraith Prize is a profound and humbling milestone. I hope these poems carry a fracture of the rhythm, form and truth Alhaji Arole Agarawu gave his craft. I am deeply grateful to the board of trustees, the guest Judge Matthew Shenoda, and the foundation for this honor and holding this space for the Black lyric.”
— Edinam Denoo
“Edinam Denoo’s ‘Bonu Bonu Kpoo’ commands the ear with unforgettable rhythmic resonance, intellectual verve, and cultural immediacy. In partnering with Grayling and Wraith to produce a cinematic adaptation of Edinam’s work, we turn oral legacy into living visual culture.”
— Adedayo Agarau, Founder & Director of Programs
About Edinam Denoo: Denoo Edinam Yawo is a Ghanaian poet and writer whose work delves into themes of the body, the politics of language, spirituality, and faith at the intersection of living. She is a 2025 Black Atlantic Residency Fellow, an alumna of the 2025 Johannesburg Institute of Advanced Studies (JIAS) Creative Writing Workshop for Emerging Writers & the 2025 CAINE Online Editing Workshop. She is the 2024 Second Runner-Up and the 2025 First Runner-Up of the Adinkra Poetry Prize, and a recipient of the 2025 DUAPA Mentorship Program. Her work has appeared in or is forthcoming in Guernica, New Coin, Tampered Press, Ubwali, and others.
Honorable Mentions
In addition, Professor Shenoda singled out two poets for formal Honorable Mention:
- Rafiat Lamidi (Nigeria) — “The Lord of Loneliness”. Rafiat Lamidi is a Nigerian poet whose works have appeared in Lolwe, Isele Magazine, Uncanny Magazine, and HAD.
- Sydney Mayes (United States) — “By The Sweat of The Mountain’s Brow”. Sydney Mayes is the 2026 FSG Fellow and winner of the 2025 Adrienne Rich Award. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, Poets.org, Prairie Schooner, Virginia Quarterly Review, and The Kenyon Review.
Explore the interactive presentation on our official 2026 Winners Showcase Page.
About the Prize & Cultural Legacy
The Alhaji Arole Agarawu African Poetry Prize was established in memory of Alhaji Arole Agarawu (1930s–1995), a prolific West African songwriter and composer whose foundational contributions to Yoruba musical traditions—including Sakara, Apala, and Waka—went largely uncredited in formal institutions during his lifetime.
Through this prize, the Arole Agarawu Foundation transforms that historical silence into an enduring platform of celebration and material recognition, creating vital financial and critical support for Black poets expanding the horizons of language, craft, and communal memory.
Press & Media Contact
Ijeoma Ntada
Communications Lead
Arole Agarawu Foundation
Email: comms@aroleagarawufoundation.com | info@aroleagarawufoundation.com
Phone: +234 815 807 7256
Website: www.aroleagarawufoundation.com