Blooming Minds Younger Writers and Arts Awards held its tenth annual version over the weekend, on the Lagos Oriental Resort, bringing collectively younger creatives, educators and fogeys in a celebration of expertise, innovation and youth improvement.
The initiative, which runs in each Nigeria and Ghana, is designed to nurture and recognise youngsters with artistic talents in writing, arts and trend, whereas equipping them with abilities for management and private improvement. Winners acquired money prizes and alternatives for publishing offers, whereas shortlisted individuals who didn’t emerge winners have been provided entry to artistic writing workshops.
Founding father of the initiative, Thelma Ofuso-Asamoah, mentioned the awards are a part of a broader youth empowerment effort underneath the Booming Minds Change Champions Community.
She defined that the challenge is aimed toward offering a platform for younger individuals to develop their artistic and mental capacities.
“We’re about empowering younger individuals and giving them a platform the place they’ll enhance on themselves, they’ll get higher, get the talents and the data that they must be higher individuals in society,” she mentioned.
In line with her, the programme focuses on harnessing creativity in youngsters, whether or not in writing, visible arts or trend, as a software for management improvement.
“Its about exploring youngsters’s creativity, giving them a platform the place they’ll see what the youngsters, you already know, get higher at, what they’ll study. And it’s nearly elevating leaders. And for us, we’re utilizing arts and literature to lift younger leaders,” she said.
She added that the initiative encourages crucial pondering and curiosity amongst individuals, making ready them for future careers.
“They’ll have this capability to suppose critically, to be intuitive, the place they are often inquisitive and ask questions, and simply put issues round them,” she mentioned.
Marking its tenth anniversary, the organisation additionally launched its first e book, a group of tales from younger writers in Nigeria and Ghana.
“That is our tenth yr. Coincidentally, we’ve revealed our first assortment of tales. So there’s a e book that we’re launching as properly,” she mentioned.
“And it’s a group of 10 tales that we’ve curated collectively from Ghana and Nigeria collectively in a e book.”
She famous that seeing their work revealed motivates youngsters to enhance and stay engaged.
“And so they can see on the finish, that’s my story, and that will get them extra concerned, and so they wish to do extra, they wish to do higher,” she added.
Over time, the programme has reached hundreds of individuals throughout Nigeria.
“We’ve run workshops the place we’re serving to youngsters to get higher at their writing, get higher at literature. And I feel that we’ve labored with over 9,000 youngsters round Nigeria up to now,” she mentioned.
The occasion additionally featured a runway present, giving youngsters with pursuits in trend a possibility to showcase their skills.
“Run Approach Style present is a spotlight on this occasion. So for these youngsters who should not a part of the artistic writing or the humanities competitors, they’re proper there on the runway,” she defined.
On the choice course of, she mentioned entries are assessed based mostly on strict standards, together with originality, language, theme and total high quality, with further verification steps to make sure authenticity.
“So as soon as essays are shortlisted, we name them randomly and simply speak to the kid. They run us via what they’ve written, inform us what impressed them to write down,” she mentioned.
Wanting forward, Ofuso-Asamoah mentioned the organisation plans to proceed publishing and mentoring younger skills into future writers and leaders.
“Lengthy-term, the plan is we’ll proceed to publish. And if we get kids who we all know have the power, we’ll comply with them via to get them to write down and develop into writers ultimately,” she mentioned.
She emphasised that the broader purpose goes past producing authors.
“The benchmark for this entire factor is to lift leaders’ true hearts of literature,” she mentioned.
“We’re hoping that whereas they’re concerned on this challenge, they’re constructing the talents that they must be higher leaders of their society.”
She additionally inspired dad and mom to go to their web site Www.bmccn.org and enroll their youngsters within the programme.
“Should you haven’t heard about us earlier than, when you’ve got youngsters between the ages of 6 and 15, get them right here,” she mentioned.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
Times Nigeria