Aduke Gomez, Ego Boyo among judges for 2017 Quramo Writers Prize

Ego Boyo, Aduke Gomez, Olakunle Kasumu, Ayo Inika, Pauline Tomlin and Kayode Kofoworola have been unveiled as the judges for the 2017 edition of the Quramo Writers Prize.

Quramo Writers Prize, which is currently accepting submissions, aims to encourage and stimulate a new wave of talented writers with original stories and provide an opportunity for them to become published authors, and gain recognition.

The competition which is open to writers to submit unpublished work of fiction and nonfiction, and has two categories: ‘The Quramo Writer’s Prize’, the general category for writers above 16 has a minimum word count of 5,000 words and ‘The Quramo Prize for Young Writers’, an under 16 category with an upper limit of 3,000 words.

Here are the judges for this year’s competition.

Aduke Gomez

After being called the bar in 1987, Aduke Gomez had an illustrious and varied legal career with Akin Delano and Co., Udo Udoma & Belo Osagie and Ecobank Nigeria Plc, where she helped pioneer its corporate affairs unit. She eventually began a career in customer relations first as the head of customer service Audits across the Ecobank affiliates in the West African region and, later, Ecobank Niger. She formed A.B. Gomez Consultants to provide clients with access to varied aspects of staff training requirements.

Between 2009 – 2015, she served as chairman of the junior carnival of the Lagos Carnival Committee. In October 2011, Aduke was appointed to serve as SSA to the governor of Lagos state. She also served as the secretary to the hotel licensing authority of the ministry of tourism and intergovernmental relations where she variously contributed to the editorial production of several editions of brochures for the Eyo and Carnival festivals and the Ministry’s  tourist guide ,“Lagos –A Visitors Guide”; she also served as a member on the Lagos state history committee.

Aduke has now returned to private practice where amongst other advisory services she propagates the use of customer service skills as a tool to grow business.  A cultural enthusiast, she has often utilised her professional skills to assist in artist development within creative sectors. She recently published a poetry collection entitled “While I’m Here, Let Me Quickly Tell You About…”

Kayode Kofoworola

Kayode Gboyega Kofoworola is a freelance editor, poet, critic and teacher.  He holds a PhD degree in Literature from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria and is presently a member of the teaching faculty at the Department of English, University of Lagos, Nigeria. Some of his published works include; The Court Jester in Nigerian Drama in David Robb (ed)- Clowns, Fools and Picaros; Popular Forms in Theatre, Fiction and Film. Rodopi Press, Amsterdam- New York 2007 and Landmines and Booby–Traps: Multilingualism and Translation in Nigeria in Micheala Wolf (ed) Obsersetzen – Translating Tradauire: Towards a Social Turn? LT VERLAG, Munster Germany, 2006.

He has attended trainings, workshops and presented papers at international conferences in Austria, Germany, Italy, the United States of America and the United Kingdom. He is a fellow of the Institute for Critical Social Inquiry (ICSI) New York and a member of the American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) and Lagos Studies Association (LSA). His areas of interest include African and African-American literature, translation and publishing studies, children’s’ literature and, cultural, media and film studies.

Pauline Tomlin

She is an accomplished educator, coach & mentor as well as having been a former media pProfessional and mManager with a proven track record for producing results.

Her clients, pupils and subordinates testify to her extraordinary ability to see the ‘potential’ in all those she works with and often comment on her unending enthusiasm and positivity.

As a life coach and mentor she has supported others to make significant and positive changes in their lives as well as delivered inspiring workshops that leave attendees fired up and possession the self-belief needed to step into the life they’ve always dreamed of

As an educator, Pauline has a proven track record of motivating pupils to achieve results that even they are surprised at. Her ability to get her pupils to believe in their own power and abilities is second to none and as a result, she consistently gets pupils to achieve three and four levels of progress across KS3 & 4.

Ego Boyo

Nwakaego Boyo is the MD/CEO of Temple Productions and has worked extensively in the creative art industries in Nigeria for over 20 years. She studied theatre arts with a focus on TV and film and has a number of critically acclaimed feature films, documentaries, and advocacy films under her belt.

Boyo is an art enthusiast and collector. She is on the committee of TATE, AAC. She is the president of the International Women’s Society Nigeria, founder of Temple MAI Foundation under Temple Productions and a global rights advocate in the campaign against sexual violence.

She is also a member of the Association of Movie Producers, National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP) and NEBG. Boyo serves on the advisory board of Oando Foundation and is a director at Lagos Preparatory School, Ikoyi.

Ayo Inika

Ayo Inika studied law at the University of Nigeria, Enugu campus.

Following a stint in legal practice in Kano, she is currently the CEO of Kingfisher Ltd, a logistics company with branches in Lagos and Kano.

Her interests include the exploration of symmetries between creative and cultural expressions, with particular emphasis on colour therapy, hand loom textiles and paper art.

She is a voracious reader with a keen interest in contemporary African writing.

Ayo is currently working on a novel.

Olakunle Kasumu

Olakunle Kasumu is a writer, publisher, literary journalist and entrepreneur. He is the founder of Storyteller Services, a ghostwriting and publishing firm focused on working with individuals and corporations to document their stories.

Olakunle is one of Nigeria’s most prolific ghostwriters and an advocate for the development of a national reading and education culture.

He is the presenter and co-producer of Channels Book Club, Nigeria’s premier television book show that serves as a platform for writers, authors, publishers, booksellers, policy makers, literary events and the entire book sector.