Kyambogo University emerged winner of the first edition of the inter-university poetry competitions that took place at the university on Saturday, October 28, 2023.

There were contestants from three universities that included Kyambogo, Uganda Institute of Communication and Technology and Makerere University.

Kyambogo, the host university, had the most participants, namely Jimmy Yobo, Edward Mumbere, Mark David Semakula, Authentic Girl and Racheal Babirye, a second-year education student, who was crowned the overall winner of the competition.

Mumbere took the third position, while Authentic Girl took the fourth.

Babirye promised to defend her win in next year's championship.

“ I did two poems and one was about how Ugandans are using social media to promote nudity and immorality because nudes have become a problem to Ugandan  social media users and the problem will not end if such crimes are not handled by those in power,” she said.

Makerere University, represented by Alice Grace Namale, a third-year law student, was the first runner-up after presenting two poems.

Uganda Institute of Communication and Technology was represented by Esther Murungi, who recited poems like the Man Am Looking For and Hurting My Toe You Idiot.

The participants recited poems with messages related to situations such as  mental illness, poverty, unemployment and behavioural-related challenges like drug abuse and alcoholism.

The winners were awarded with certificates, trophies and gifts from one of the Ugandan coffee dealers that sponsored the event.

Gilbert Atukunda, a literature lecturer at Kyambogo University, said it was a spoken word poetry competition, which meant that the contestants had to practise  how to present their poems well to the public.

“ This is the first edition. We had few participants because we never had time to bring many universities on board, but next year, the number will increase," he said.