At 2021 Qfest, Medical Student Clinches the Quramo Writers’ Prize

After the suspense, punctuated by some Afrobeats, came the announcement. Akinimi Akintomiwa Oluwaseun, a final year medical student at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife was named the winner of the Quramo Prize for Writers at the grand finale of the Quramo Festival of Words held in Lagos. Yinka Olatunbosun reports

“It is ironical that words got me here but now I am short of words,’’ was the unforgettable remark from Akinimi Akintomiwa Oluwaseun, the 25-year old final year student of the Medicine and Surgery at the Obafemi Awolowo University on the podium where he received his prize. With the giant dummy cheque of N1m and the prospect of publishing his winning entry titled “Looking Glass Bullet,’’ with Quramo Publishing, Akinimi involuntarily edged Cynthia Nnadi’s ‘Fate of the Forlorn’ and Ifeanyi Ekpunobi’s ‘Dark Spots of Light’ into second and third positions respectively. Others in the top five include Ishola Oyinkansola Hubaidat and Cynthia Chukwuma.

Akinimi would have missed out on this competition but for his good friend, Peter Aladeyelu- also a medical student- who gave him some heads up. Prior to writing the winning story, he had been busy with non-fiction and motivational pieces. ‘Looking Glass Bullet’ was the end product of his writing executed on his mobile phone.

“I had too much time on my hands during the lockdown. I was at home without nothing to do so I just picked up my phone and started typing until it became what has earned me a prize. There was a lot of hesitation on my part. But I have a friend that was that involved, and believed in me and he pushed me to submit. We are both medical students and he didn’t have time to read it before I submitted it. He just kept encouraging me all through,’’ he recounted.

The former ‘straight A’ student of the junior school at Maryland Comprehensive School, Ikeja is aware that he is indeed art-oriented. When asked if he would eventually work as a doctor, his response was non-committal yet insightful.

“I am doing well at the medicine school but I have never really felt like I belonged there. I have always known words are what I would work with. I like writing music and fiction. I hope one day I could be a musician. I love words,’’ the winning writer said, adding that he considers the prize as his 25th birthday gift.

The poet-playwright Jude Idada, who served as head judge of Quramo Writers’ Prize described his role as a singular honour. Alongside co-judges Lechi Eke and Adam Abubakar Ibrahim, who read the citation for each of the finalists, Idada conveyed a message laded with optimism.

“Some of the issues explored by the entries received revolved around religion, cultural issues, the passage of love and hate, fantasy, migration and multi-cultural. In the onset of being presented these manuscripts, it was challenging. Everyone that submitted, whether on the longlist or short list is a winner for it takes perseverance and self-belief to be counted deserving. Keep writing, keep knocking on doors. Success comes in different forms,’’ he said.

The CEO, Quramo, Gbemi Shasore expressed her delight that in spite of the pandemic, words are celebrated at 2021 Qfest with the theme “Transcendence: Words Defying.”

“This global experience is beyond normal, it is transcendent. It is business and leisure unusual. Only our power to connect with words will ensure that the global community, Africa especially, defies the ill effects of today’s times. Words are leading the way,” she said.