An alumna of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi (KNUST) Mariam Mohammed has been named winner of the 2025 JAY Lit Prize for Poetry.

Miss Mohammed, now a PhD student studying Writing, Rhetoric and Cultures at Michigan State University, won the award for her poem “The B(lack)ody as a Map to Self,” published in Issue 9 of the Journal of African Youth Literature (JAY Lit). The award recognises outstanding contributions to African writing published in the journal over the past year.

Her selection places her alongside other continental winners, including Nigerian writer Olayinka Yaqub (Fiction) and Kenyan essayist Naomi Nduta Waweru (Non-Fiction), in a cohort celebrated for pushing the boundaries of contemporary African literature.

Judge Bash Amuneni described Mohammed’s work as deeply intentional and emotionally resonant.
“For me, Mariam’s poem was the best of the four because every image is placed with care, every fracture intentional,” he said. “Her attention to detail is almost surgical, cutting precisely into lineage, body, and belonging, and then leaving behind a tenderness that lingers long after the final line of the poem.”

The JAY Lit Awards, an initiative of the Journal of African Youth Literature, aim to recognise and honour emerging and established voices shaping literary expression across the continent. Winners are selected through a multi-tier judging process involving category editors and leading literary figures.