A non‐profit project with the mission of promoting literacy, fostering a culture of reading, and supporting young writers, particularly in the genre of Young Adult Literature, YAL, the TY Buratai Literary Initiative, TYBLI, has released a long-list of first six successful contenders for its literary prize, selected from 106 entries that were received for the 2025 Young Adult Literature writing competition.
Similarly, TYBLI, which is also an educational outreach and community give-back service initiated and sponsored by a former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, said another shortlist of three winners would be announced before the Grand Prize and Awards ceremony on November 1.
A statement by Binta Umar listed one of the key activities of the initiative as book placement program whereby mini-libraries are created in form of “book boxes”.
Beneficiaries of this initiative, she said are normally underserved schools, aimed at improving their access to age-appropriate leisure reading materials, disclosing that the TYBLI placed book boxes in three schools across Nasarawa State and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT in 2024.
The 2025 zonal winners and their stories, according to the statement are Adoo Gyuur: Daughters of Ashes -North Central; Daniel Yohanna: A Boy From Far North – North East; E. R. Umukoro: The Distortion of Hardassah –South South; Ikemefuna Chinenyike Lawrence Ezemagu: Garden of Garget — South East; Sarah Yousuph: When the Road Curves -South West; and Yusrah Bashir Gaga: My Darkest Nightmares – North West.
To encourage participants, the chairperson of the Initiative, Dr. Liz Ben-Iheanacho have announced an increase in the 2025 YALP prize awards during the roll out of TYBLI’s 2025 program of events earlier this year.
“The grand prize will be raised to N1.5million while six zonal winners will receive N500 each,” she stated.
Ben-Iheanacho also informed that the initiative has expanded its book placement reach in 2025 by donating mobile libraries containing at least 40 assorted books to Girau International School, Kaduna, as part of its school outreach.
She listed other beneficiaries as LGEA Unguwar Sarki School, Kaduna; School Of The Gifted, Gwagwalada; Air Force Girls Comprehensive School, Abuja and Nasarawa State University, Uke, Keffi.
The chairperson expressed appreciation to all 106 entrants and advised them not to give up, describing their contributions as valuable “because even if a work is not shortlisted, TYBLI encourages the young adults to continue writing.”
She, however, said the most prominent activity under the TYBLI is the Young Adult Literature Prize, YALP, a story writing competition to discover and reward emerging writers in the young adult genre.
In its maiden awards in 2024, the chairperson explained that the initiative celebrated young writers with Taofeek Olatunbosun bagging the grand prize of N1 million while other zonal winners received N250 each.
“The regional winners in 2024 were Sima Essien from South South with his winning story, Dream Walker; Micheal Ighonekwu’s Mysteries of the Haunted House won from South East; Bilqisu Abubakar’s The Last Sacrifice from North West; Olatunbosun Taofeek’s Truth and Dare from South West; Hajarah Bashar’s Portraiture of A Dreamer from North Central; and Yohanna Daniel’s The Northern Boy from North East.
“Three of those made it to the final-Olatunbosun Taofeek’s Truth and Dare; Hajarah Bashar’s Portraiture of a Dreamer; and Yohanna Daniel’s The Northern Boy. Olatunbosun Taofeek’s Truth and Dare finally emerged as the winning story,” Umar stated.
Besides the cash prizes, she said each of the contestants would also enjoy an Anthology comprising the best 10 entries from the 2024 YALP competition, adding that copies would be distributed to secondary and tertiary institutions nationwide to immortalize their literary works.
