Kwani Trust is pleased to announce the winners of “The Kenya I Live In” short story competition. After a long process of deliberation the judges, while commending all entries into the competition, finally settled on five writers to receive the cash prizes and an opportunity to workshop and be published with Kwani? at a later date. The winners are as follows:

1st Prize: Kshs 100,000
Mehul Gohil (Farah Aideed Goes To Gulf War)

2nd Prize: Kshs 50,000
Brenda Mukami Kunga (All In The Family)

3rd Prize: Kshs 25,000
Wilson Kiriungi Wahome (The Activist)

The judges also selected two runners who will each receive a gratuity of 10,000 and a commendation for their work.

1st Runner Up
Renée Akitelek Mboya (Brave New Worlds)

2nd Runner Up
Benjamin O. Ikaal (Chicken)

The ten other stories which made the shortlist were commended in the following order:

Fe by Waiganjo Ndirangu
Thrill Hill by Princely Hope Glorious
The Title Bid by Omunyonga Okata
The Legend of the Great Historian and His Search for The Keenian MC by Helen Nanjala Nyabola
Game Plan v2.3 by Betty Nkirote Gikunda
The Baboon House by Waigwa Ndiang’ui
The Day Rita Thin Broke My Head by B. N. Wanjala
Intern-ATIONAL by Nyanduko Getui
The Human Apostrophe by Tramaine Chelang’at Hugie
The Raincoat Boy by Wayne Owino Otieno

Kwani Trust congratulates the winners of the competition as well as all who took the time to send in their entries.

About the Kwani? Short Story Competition
The national short story competition titled, ‘The Kenya I Live In’ was inspired by the recent push for ‘The Kenya We Want’, and ubiquitous conversations about a 2030 vision that places our heads in the clouds and obscures who we are and what we really are. At Kwani Trust, we feel that these visions cannot be achieved until we come to terms with who we are and what we have been. The first step in this is in telling and recognising our own stories and especially that of a new generation.

The 46-year old Kenya’s official narrative of ‘inherent’ goodness, indigenous beauty and widespread peace has now been running on empty for a while. So we seek newer stories that reflect our day to day lives, both private and public: the stories and narratives exchanged in schools, colleges, matatus, offices, churches, pubs, streets, suburbs, estates, mtaas, trading centres, valleys and hills. Stories told through song and dance, paint and brush, word and phrase, lens and shutter – stories now being told by a new generation, spurred by new imaginations, revealed by new narratives and expressions.