The Zacchaeus Onumba Dibiaezue Memorial Libraries has said poetry competitions will boost creativity and discipline in higher institution students.
Speaking at a press conference to herald the grand finale of ZODML poetry challenge, titled, ‘Motherhood,’ chairman, ZODML, Ifeoma Esiri, said that the students who joined the challenge would be exposed to good literature.
She added that literary works would help them to acquire language skills leading to better performance in their studies.
“The competition has the tendency to awaken the creative process in the students. In constructing a poem for the challenge, students will develop skills of creative self-expression and experimentation with language. The challenge will set them to think and then prepare and formulate their thoughts.”
Esiri noted that the poetry challenge received 791 submissions out of which was narrowed down to 10 finalists.
During the grand finale award, an 18-year-old student of English Language, at Lagos State University, Saheed Sunday, was the winner of the competition. The winning poem was ‘Poem About My Mother.’
One of the judges, Aduke Gomez, said the quality of writing received from the tertiary institution students was of high quality.
“It was difficult to choose the top 10 because of the quality of the use of language. It was inspirational it made me optimistic about young people who could sit and write.”
A member of the ZODML Board of Trustees, Ayo Obe, appealed to the government to give easy access to NGOs, and individuals who want to contribute to the growth and development of education in Nigeria.
