Sahada Yahaya Emerges Winner of the ANA/Lady Ejiro Umukoro Poetry Endowment Fund Slam

Poet Sahada Yahaya rises as the 2025 ANA/Lady Ejiro Umukoro Poetry Slam Champion amongst eleven contestants at the 2025 ANA Poetry Slam, at the Mamman Vatsa Writers’ Village in Abuja, after an electrifying contest supported by LightRay! Media and the Association of Nigerian Authors.

Under the calm November skies of Abuja, the Mamman Vatsa Writers’ Village transformed into a living, breathing theatre of words and rhythm. The 2025 ANA Poetryt Slam, aptly themed “Code Switching in Spirit Realm,”. The Poetry Slam competition was supported by an Endownment Fund of N100,000 along with a certificate by Lady Ejiro Umukoro, Founder and CEO of LightRay!, one of Nigeria’s fiercest advocates for media innovation and literary rebirth.

The night was a mesmerizing tapestry of voices and styles, as poets wove together threads of passion, pain, and triumph. With every deliberate eye contact, every defiant facial expression, and every calculated gesture, the performers summoned the power of the spoken word, their voices rising and falling like the tides. Costumes shimmered and swayed, echoing the rhythmic pulse of the poetry, as ancestral chants mingled with sharp, contemporary metaphors, creating a sonic landscape that was at once raw and refined, ancient and avant-garde. It was also a night where female poets dominated the stage.

Following the successful emergence if the winner and runner ups, Lady Ejiro Umukoro, Founder and Publisher of LightRay Media who supported the endownment cash prize of N100,000 for the emerging poet expressed her satisfaction of the event. “Seeing more young women dominate the vocal space of prose in poetry is a narrative worth hyping. Literary excellence comes in all shades of gender and we must celebrate them and support our creative economy to thrive.”

Sahada Yahaya’s winning performance embodied the night’s theme – code switching between the earthly and the divine. Her delivery was raw yet refined, spiritual yet grounded.

“Poetry is not just performance; it’s grit, prayer, and prophecy. Our voices must keep echoing beyond the page,” Lady Ejiro Umukoro emphasized following the success of the awards ceremony.

The Association of Nigerian Authors honored distinguished figures who have advanced Nigeria’s literary culture, including His Excellency, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, Executive Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Madaka Abdullahi, and Prof. Udenta Udenta.

The ANA Prize for Prose was awarded to Dave Okoroafor for “The Boy Who Built a Titanic Raft”, and the Grand Chinua Achebe Literary Prize 2025 went to Ndidi Chiazor-Enenmor.

The event featured panel discussions, book and art exhibitions, live performances, and a grand dinner night where writers, scholars, publishers, and policymakers broke bread together.

“Words can build nations,” said Onwanyi Ulegede (Esq.), Chairperson of the ANA Benue Chapter, during the vote of thanks.

The 2025 convention was a movement – one that reaffirmed the purpose of Nigerian literature: to document, to challenge, and to heal.