Digital Essay Winners Receive Prizes at Nairobi International Book Fair

Nairobi, Kenya, 25 September 2026 — Up to 99 winners of this year’s Digital Essay Competition—including a new Mother Tongue category—received various prizes during the Nairobi International Book Fair at the Sarit Expo Centre in Westlands, Nairobi. Another 125 finalists are set to receive prizes in their respective schools.

The winners in the various categories received various prizes, which included scholarship funds for the next academic year, computing devices, certificates and gift hampers. The competition was open to learners in upper primary, junior school, and senior school.

More than 24,900 essays were received for this year’s edition of the Digital Essay Competition, the highest ever number of entries in the history of the programme. Local publisher eKitabu created the annual writing competition in collaboration with Kenya’s Ministry of Education.

“Let me speak”

Speaking on behalf of the Director for Special Needs Education Fred Haga, ministry official Sheila Lutta said this year’s topic enabled learners to openly express themselves. “The birds speak, the mountains speak. Nature reminds us that we can speak in many different languages.”

The Chairman of the Kenya Publishers Association, Musyoka Muli, urged the younger generation to utilize the opportunity offered by the competition to improve their writing skills. “It is satisfying that you are utilizing this opportunity to grow yourselves. Education is the key to self-expression.”

“We saw less use of AI this year than in 2025,” said eKitabu CEO Will Clurman. “We invited young people to speak in a way that was very open. They wrote about their lives, fears, struggles, hopes and ideas. The connection between written language and self-expression was there, and this is what makes this year’s submissions very special.”

“I’m excited about the record number of entries and the inclusion of Mother Tongue as a category,” said eKitabu Senior Manager in charge of Programmes Michael Ng’eno. “This will enhance the use of the mother tongue in writing and also in expression.”

The competition, the largest of its kind in Kenya, has run annually across all of Kenya’s 47 counties for the past 14 years. It has segments for both upper primary and secondary school learners. It is open to learners with and without disabilities, including students in refugee camps and special needs schools. For the first time, this year, eKitabu opened a category for mother tongue languages. The topic for this year’s competition was, “Let me speak,” allowing students to venture into all areas of concern in their lives.

What the essays revealed

Up to 65 expert judges were involved in marking the essays, an extensive process now completed. “We have seen an improvement in the quality of writing this year, but also some use of Artificial Intelligence,” said Beatrice Kikuyu from Mary Lusweti Comprehensive School in Kakamega County, a teacher and member of the panel of judges. “The topic was good and encouraged students to write about issues affecting them—even in ways they find difficult to talk about with parents and teachers. Writing makes room to rethink the way guidance and counselling happen in schools.”

Concerns raised by students will attract the interest of education authorities and stakeholders. For instance, the problem of bullying featured prominently in the essays. A student from a school in western Kenya wrote about how parents were asked to pay between Ksh5,000 and Ksh10,000 to facilitate cheating for their children. The competition therefore provides an avenue for students to air sensitive issues affecting them.

46 languages, 34 of them mother tongues

The new Mother Tongue category added to the earlier nine categories: English, Kiswahili, French, German, Arabic, Braille, Art, Kenyan Sign Language, and Mandarin Chinese. Together, the competition’s entries this year represented 46 languages, including 34 mother tongue languages and dialects. The international languages represented included Spanish, Hindi, Korean and Japanese, all of them getting entries for the first time.

The new mother tongue languages category attracted 371 entries. Among foreign languages, French attracted the highest number this year at more than 100. German had more than 60 as did Arabic, while Chinese entries were up to 20 this year from 5 in 2025, when eKitabu first introduced the Mandarin category.

Guests at the ceremony

Other key guests at this year’s event included Prof Frederick Iraki, Professor of French at USIU-Africa, Cleophas Oluoch of Ramogi TV, and Prof Mukoma Ngugi. “I am happy to be here and to see the recognition of African languages,” said Prof Ngugi, son of the late Prof Ngugi wa Thiong’o and an acclaimed author in his own right.

Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association Chairman Faud Ali, Kenya Publishers Association CEO James Odhiambo, Alliance Française Director Olivia Deroint, renowned author David Maillu, and representatives of various organizations also attended the event.