CHISOM OKAFOR

Chisom Okafor is a Nigerian poet, Nutritionist and Dietitian. He was shortlisted for the Brittle Paper Award for Poetry in 2018 and the Gerald Kraak Prize of 2019. He was runner up for the inaugural Nigerian Students’ Poetry Prize (2016) and won the inaugural Dwarts Prize for Poetry (2017). His works have been published or are forthcoming in Praire Schooner, the Indian Journal of Literature and Aesthetics, Rattle, Frontier Poetry, Jalada, Palette Poetry, The 2019 Gerald Kraak Anthology (The Heart of the Matter), Kikwetu Journal, The Rising Phoenix Review, The Single Story Foundation Journal, Sentinel Literary Quarterly, Brittle Paper and elsewhere. He was editor for 20:35 Africa: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry and judge for the 2018 PIN Prose Poetry contest. He was listed in Woke Africa’s 21 Best Africa’s Writers of the New Generation and presently sits on the judging panel for the Libretto Chapbook Series.

OJO TAIYE

Ojo Taiye is a young Nigerian poet who uses poetry as a handy tool to hide his frustration with the society. He is the winner of many prestigious awards including the 2019 Kingdoms in the Wild Poetry Prize for his chapbook “All of Us Are Birds and Some of Us Have Broken Wings” and the 2019 Broken River Prize for his chapbook Cotton Silence, forthcoming, 2020. In 2019 he was shortlisted for the Brittle Paper Award for his poem “Surveillance Camera” which appeared in Tinderbox Poetry Journal, the winner of 2019 Hart Crane Poetry Prize, the Jack Grapes Poetry Prize, and others. His works appears in or are forthcoming from Rattle, Notre Dame Review, Vallum, Temz Review, Palette Poetry, Glass Journal, Savant-Garde Journal, Glintmoon, Icefloe Press, Frontier Poetry, Strange Horizon, Cherry Tree, Willow Review, Cincinnati Review, Mary Journal, and others. You can reach out to him on twitter @ojo_poems.

BLESSING NWODO

Blessing Ofia-Inyinya Nwodo studied Adult Education/ English language in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka where she merited the award “Best Female Writer”. Her short story “Vaginismus” was featured in Erotic Africa: The Sex Anthology by Brittle Paper and she was nominated for the Lost Balloon pushcart prize in 2019. She was awarded the Highly Rated prize in the Nigerian Travel Story competition organized by Travel Next Door in 2016. Her essay, “The gendered double standard of adultery in Nigeria” was published by Women’s Media Centre (FBOMB) and she has also been published on Kalahari Review, The Common, Naija Stories, 100 words Africa, Lion spot and others.

They will work together to make decisions on the winners of the Cradle poetry contest for 2020. We trust their judgement and what ever decision they take will be final.