The Nigerian Army is organising the COAS Literary Competitions 2025 with the theme “The Nigerian Army: Securing the people and promoting development". The Competitions is open to applicants in Primary and Secondary Schools as well as Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria from Tuesday, 1st October 2024 to Monday, 31st March 2025

Benefits of COAS Essay Competition

The winners of the COAS Literary Competitions 2025, will be issued with appropriate certificates and cash prizes as follows:

COAS Essay Competition.

Primary Schools: Ages 5 – 11 Years.

1st Position – N250,000.00

2nd Position – N100,000.00

3rd Position – N50,000.00

Secondary Schools: Ages 12 – 17 Years.

1st Position – N600,000.00

2nd Position – N250,000.00

3rd Position – N100,000.00

Tertiary Institutions: Ages 18 – 24 Years.

1st Position – N1,000,000.00

2nd Position – N500,000.00

3rd Position – N200,000.00

COAS Art Competition

Primary School: Ages 5 – 11 Years.

1st Position – N250,000.00

2nd Position – N100,000.00

3rd Position – N50,000.00

Secondary School: Ages 12 – 17 Years.

1st Position – N600,000.00

2nd Position – N250,000.00

3rd Position – N100,000.00

Tertiary Institutions: Ages 18 – 24 Years.

1st Position – N1,000,000.00

2nd Position – N500,000.00

3rd Position – N200,000.00

COAS Poetry Competition

Primary School: Ages 5 – 11 Years.

1st Position – N250,000.00

2nd Position – N100,000.00

3rd Position – N50,000.00

Secondary Schools: Ages 12 – 17 Years.

1st Position – N600,000.00

2nd Position – N250,000.00

3rd Position – N100,000.00

Tertiary Institutions: Ages 18 – 24 Years.

1st Position – N1,000,000.00

2nd Position – N500,000.00

3rd Position – N200,000.00

Requirements for COAS Essay Competition

Categories for the Chief of Army Staff Literary Competitions

All the categories for the COAS Literary Competitions are open to applicants between the ages 5 – 11 years (primary schools), 12 – 17 years (secondary schools) and 18 – 24 years (tertiary institutions) respectively. The Categories are as follows:

COAS Essay Competition

COAS Art Competition

COAS Poetry Competition

The specific entries requirements which applicants MUST strictly adhere to for each competition are as follows:

COAS Essay Competition:

Topics to be coined from the theme (Nigerian Army: Securing the people and promoting development).

Length of the essay for primary and secondary schools should not exceed 2000 words while those for tertiary institutions should be between 3000 - 5000 words.

Essay should be the original thoughts of the writer.

Completed essays should be uploaded here

COAS Art Competition

Art works must have bearing with the theme (Nigerian Army: Securing the people and promoting development).

All Art works are limited to only painting and drawing.

The Art work should be submitted with a short caption.

Submitted works must be the original works of the artist and should not have been published.

Entries are to be snapped/scanned and uploaded here not later than 31st March, 2025

COAS Poetry Competition

All poems should be original.

Poems can belong to any genre but must be related to the theme of the competition.

Poems to contain a maximum of 200 words and must be uploaded here.

All entries must be in English Language

Selection Process

All entries for the COAS Literary Competitions 2025 will be guided by the following guidelines:

There would be 2 levels of assessment. An initial assessment to shortlist successful candidates while the second would be virtual interaction with a team of assessors before final selection of winners.

At any stage of the screening processes, entry that is discovered not to be original will be disqualified from the Competitions.

All entries may be published in NA Journals/Periodicals.

Application Deadline

March 25, 2025

How to Apply

Interested and qualified? Go to Nigerian Army (NA) on dcma.army.mil.ng to apply

Application forms for primary and secondary schools must be completed online, printed, duly endorsed and stamped by the Head of Schools, scanned and uploaded here. Applicants for tertiary institutions are to complete their online registration here.

Any entry uploaded after the deadline will not be considered. All entries for the competitions MUST be original without any traces of plagiarism. Winners will be communicated through their emails, schools, and published on the webpage.