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Officially marking our 5th anniversary in May this year, SprinNG continued to demonstrate its passion for empowering new Nigerian generations in writing and literature. We are grateful to all those who have contributed to making SprinNG successful this year. We are open to donations and collaborative opportunities to further enhance the impact of our service in 2022. Please visit www.sprinng.org/donate if you are interested in supporting our work financially Here is a summary of our accomplishments in 2021 and outlook for 2022. SprinNG Publications: In 2021, we published a total of 53 items on our website, garnering about 200 comments, 19,000 unique views, and 38,000 page visits. We particularly highlighted the voices of our fellowship alumni by selecting 7 writers for specific months and publishing three of their works per month. We also increased our social media following by 15% with the addition of the SprinNG Women Authors Prize media (@the_SWAPng). Looking forward to 2022, we have an open call for submissions to the public with few restrictions, allowing more writers to be celebrated through our platform. To learn more and submit, visit: www.sprinng.org/submit-to-us. The submission deadline is January 31, 2022.  Anthologies: This year, an additional avenue for submissions and publications to other writers was through anthologies published by SprinNG. We published two anthologies: To Borrow Screams from the Atmosphere and We Are Deathless. In addition, before the end of this year, we will publish the 2021 SprinNG Writing Fellowship anthology.  About We are Deathless: The narrative surrounding the black identity remains a single story of strife and pain. Edited by Wale Ayinla and Kanyinsola Olorunnisola, We Are Deathless: An Afropoetry Anthology is poets’ response to that. We aim for a new narrative with many black voices speaking their truths in unison. Blackness is no monolith; it exists in various forms, and we want works that acknowledge its cultural, religious, ideological, and sexual diversity. The anthology title is inspired by Deathless, a song by Ibeyi, an Afro-French Cuban duo. To read more about this anthology and download, visit www.sprinng.org/wad-anthology  About To Borrow Screams from the Atmosphere: In this anthology, we have collated the revealing, authentic, pure, funny, regretting, teasing, memorable, descriptive, and importantly, relatable in this theme. In addition, we selected the provoking, simple, experimental, playful, what follows the rules or breaks them. Rather than treat the topic of sex, eros, and sexuality as an ingredient needing context, this anthology serves as a meal to interested readers of the specific subject. To read more about this anthology and download, visit www.sprinng.org/aeanthology 2021 SprinNG Fellowship’s Anthology including ‘Why I Write’ Essays: This anthology represents the 2021 cohort with writings by 20 of the 44 writers accepted into the fellowship’s fifth cohort, 41 of which completed the programme requirements. The publication date will be announced on our social media platforms soon. The SprinNG Fellowship  The SprinNG Writing Fellowship: The SprinNG Writing Fellowship is an intensive 6-week online mentorship programme for developing writers with great potential and willingness to learn. Select participants of the fellowship are paired with top contemporary writers to receive feedback continually on their work. In 2021, we expanded the writing fellowship to Ghana, promoting African inclusivity and network among the writers in our program. Here is the engagement history in our SprinNG Writing fellowship:
This year, we received 567 applications for the SprinNG Writing fellowship. As a result, we accepted 44 mentees into the programme, 41 completed the fellowship requirements and received their certifications. In addition, 40 mentors volunteered for this year’s fellowship. The application for the SprinNG Writing Fellowship will open again in 2022 between January and April 15. Further announcements will be on this page in 2022: www.sprinng.org/writing-fellowship  The SprinNG Advancement Fellowship: Our 2020 report stated that we will modify the SprinNG Advancement Fellowship (SAF) into an all-year-round mentorship module and platform for Nigerian creatives and non-creatives in the country and beyond to improve their career development skills. The SprinNG Advancement Fellowship (SAF) is a self-paced (4 weeks) programme that helps individuals develop career content and improve their professional communication skills to attain academic and career goals. The fellowship covers six core courses: Resume/ CV Writing, Cover Letter Writing, Personal Statement Writing, Interview Preparation, Answering Interview Questions, and S.M.A.R.T Goal-Setting. The fellowship costs N25,000 only. Fellowship participants are provided concise learning materials, including videos, worksheets, short guides, and assignments to build their career portfolio for pursuing opportunities like jobs, internships, fellowships, university admissions, and more. In addition, they will receive feedback and guidance from SprinNG to perfect their career content and stand out. We ran the SprinNG Advancement fellowship twice this year, in August and October. In August, 7 participants completed the SprinNG Advancement fellowship: 4 being scholarship recipients from the 2021 SprinNG Writing Fellowship. In November, 3 participants completed the fellowship. The application for the SprinNG Advancement Fellowship will open again in 2022 three times during the year: March, July, and November. Further announcements will be on this page in 2022: www.sprinng.org/advancement-fellowship  SprinNG Resume/CV Clinic: Compared to the month-long Advancement Fellowship, the SprinNG Resume/CV Clinic is a self-paced (1 week) program that helps develop only Resume/CVs. It is a portion of the SprinNG Advancement Fellowship (SAF) and costs only N5,000. Likewise, it is self-paced, including a 30-minute video, handouts, and a template/guide. In addition, individuals will receive advice to improve and finalize their resumes/CV. The SprinNG Resume/CV Clinics will run 4 times in 2022: January, April, May, and September. More announcements will be made on our website, via email, and social media. The SprinNG Women Authors Prize (SWAP): SWAP selects a Female Nigerian Author annually - someone who has published a full-length book in print and invests N200,000 in purchasing, distributing, and marketing copies of their book nationwide through our sister literary websites and events with whom we collaborate. SWAP’s first winner (2020), Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia, Author of The Son of the House, was announced in January 2021. She also won the $100,000 NLNG Literature Award for 2021 that was announced October 2021. We are very proud of Cheluchi’s accomplishments and wish her further success with her debut book – The Son of the House.  This December, the second SprinNG Women Authors Prize winner will be announced. We appreciate the prize judges and look forward to announcing the winners and semifinalists this month. To learn more about the prize and see its timeline, visit: www.sprinng.org/swap The SprinNG Poetry Contest: This year, we received 1223 submissions for the poetry contest. There were several competitive pieces in the pool for the prize. We congratulate the winner, Damilola Omotoyinbo, and the runner-ups: U.A Edwardson (first runner-up) and Bryan Joe Okwesili (second runner-up). We appreciate our judges: Ugochukwu Damian, Roseline Mgbochimma, Ayomide Wes Oriolowo, and Gimbiya Galadima, for taking the time to select the worthy finalists.  The SprinNG Internship: In collaboration with the CTCTW - Children That Change the World (www.ctctw.org), we provide a paid internship where young individuals can explore their interests in media and publishing. This year, drawing from CTCTW’s students and youth participants, we expanded our internship from 6-weeks to 6 months, hosting Adedolapo Lawal, who joined the team as an editorial and content creation intern. Adedolapo interned from May to November 30 and, starting 2022, will officially join the team as SprinNG’s Project Manager for Alumni Relations. The Nigerian Writers Database: We are still accepting submissions for biographies to the Nigerian Writers Database managed by SprinNG. We are always looking for ways to improve our services and user experience; hence, the continuation that happened this year. All updates about the database will be published on our website and through our social media pages. Visit www.nigerianwriters.info to search and learn more.
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