Government-Backed Lade Wosornu Poetry Contest Aims to Preserve Ghana's Indigenous Languages Through Student Creativity
A new national initiative to preserve Ghana’s indigenous languages through the creative arts has taken root in Accra, with the maiden Lade Wosornu Students Poetry Contest bringing together six senior high schools in a spirited celebration of poetry, language, and cultural identity.
The contest, held at the National Children’s Library at Airport City, is part of the Black Star Experience programme and falls under the Creative Arts Agency’s “Grow the Artist-in-Me!” project. It is designed to create a structured platform that encourages the appreciation and patronage of Ghanaian poetry among students, while specifically promoting indigenous Ghanaian languages — an advocacy that has defined the career of its namesake, Professor Lade Wosornu.
The initiative represents a collaboration between the Creative Arts Agency Ghana, the Ghana Library Authority, and the Pan-African Writers Association, with additional support from the Professor Lade Wosornu Trust. It is one of several branches of the broader Lade Wosornu Literary Nest initiative announced last year by Acting Executive Secretary of the Creative Arts Agency, Gideon Aryeequaye.
Six Accra-based senior high schools that study Ghanaian languages participated in the pilot edition: Accra High School, Accra Girls SHS, Ebenezer SHS, Labone SHS, St Thomas Aquinas SHS, and Wesley Grammar SHS. Each school was tasked with creatively presenting Professor Wosornu’s poem “Raider of the Treasure Trove” in both English and Ga, followed by a question-and-answer session on the poem.
Accra High School claimed the top prize, with Accra Girls SHS finishing second and Wesley Grammar School taking third. Additional honours went to Accra High School for Most Creative Group, Wesley Grammar School for Best Ga Presentation, and Accra Girls SHS for Best English Presentation. Awura Oforiwaa was named Student Spoken Word Artist of the contest.
The contest is expected to expand beyond the pilot phase, with plans to organise regional heats before culminating in a national final featuring winners from across the country. This staged approach mirrors the government’s broader ambition to embed cultural education within the national curriculum framework, an effort that has seen growing support from various institutions advocating for education reform in Ghana’s schools.
The involvement of the Pan-African Writers Association also signals an ambition to position the contest within a continental literary context, potentially opening doors for cross-border student exchanges and collaborations in future editions.
Supporting partners for the debut event included the Ghana Tourism Development Company, National Film Authority, Yumvita Ghana, Apple Man Ghana, and Breathing Art Studio, suggesting a model of public-private partnership that could sustain the programme’s growth in the years ahead.
Image Source: GHANAMMA
