Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Literary Competitions for Young Nigerians 2026

Published: 09 Oct 2025

he Nigerian Army is organising the COAS Literary Competitions 2026 with the theme “The NA: The People's Army, Our Army". The Competitions is open to applicants in Primary and Secondary Schools as well as undergraduates in Nigeria. 

CATEGORIES

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 all ages (undergraduates) respectively. The Categories are as follows:

• COAS Essay Competition
• COAS Art Competition
• COAS Poetry Competition

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Literary Competitions

Application Deadline	March 31, 2026
Type	Contest
Sponsor	Nigerian Army (NA)

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Literary Competitions Benefits

PRIZES

The winners of the COAS Literary Competitions 2026, will be issued with appropriate certificates and cash prizes as follows:

• COAS Essay Competition.

  Ages 5 – 11 Years. (Primary)
  (1) 1st Position – N250,000.00
  (2) 2nd Position – N100,000.00
  (3) 3rd Position – N50,000.00
• Ages 12 – 17 Years. (Secondary)
  (1) 1st Position – N600,000.00
  (2) 2nd Position – N250,000.00
  (3) 3rd Position – N100,000.00
• All Ages (Undergraduate)
  (1) 1st Position – N1,000,000.00
  (2) 2nd Position – N500,000.00
  (3) 3rd Position – N200,000.00

• COAS Art Competition

  Ages 5 – 11 Years. (Primary)
  (1) 1st Position – N250,000.00
  (2) 2nd Position – N100,000.00
  (3) 3rd Position – N50,000.00
• Ages 12 – 17 Years. (Secondary)
  (1) 1st Position – N600,000.00
  (2) 2nd Position – N250,000.00
  (3) 3rd Position – N100,000.00
• All Ages (Undergraduate)
  (1) 1st Position – N1,000,000.00
  (2) 2nd Position – N500,000.00
  (3) 3rd Position – N200,000.00

• COAS Poetry Competition

  Ages 5 – 11 Years. (Primary)
  (1) 1st Position – N250,000.00
  (2) 2nd Position – N100,000.00
  (3) 3rd Position – N50,000.00
• Ages 12 – 17 Years. (Secondary)
  (1) 1st Position – N600,000.00
  (2) 2nd Position – N250,000.00
  (3) 3rd Position – N100,000.00
• All Ages (Undergraduate)
  (1) 1st Position – N1,000,000.00
  (2) 2nd Position – N500,000.00
  (3) 3rd Position – N200,000.00

Requirements for Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Literary Competitions

GENERAL ENTRY GUIDELINES

All entries for the COAS Literary Competitions 2026 will be guided by the following guidelines:

• Application forms for primary, secondary and undergraduates must be completed online, printed, duly endorsed and stamped by the Head of Schools, scanned and uploaded.
• 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.

SPECIFIC ENTRIES REQUIREMENTS

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

• COAS Essay Competition

  (1) Topics to be coined from the theme (“The NA: The People's Army, Our Army").
  (2) 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.
  (3) Essay should be the original thoughts of the writer.

• COAS Art Competition

  (1) Art works must have bearing with the theme (“The NA: The People's Army, Our Army").
  (2) All Art works are limited to only painting and drawing.
  (3) The Art work should be submitted with a short caption.
  (4) Submitted works must be the original works of the artist and should not have been published.
  (5) Entries are to be snapped/scanned and uploaded not later than 31st March, 2026

• COAS Poetry Competition

  (1) All poems should be original.
  (2) Poems can belong to any genre but must be related to the theme of the competition.
  (3) Poems to contain a maximum of 200 words.
  (4) All entries must be in English Language.

Selection Process

Cash prizes and certificates will be presented to all the winners at a specially organised event. All winners will be duly informed of the date and venue for the presentations of certificates and prizes.

Check also:
Queen Elizabeth Scholarship (How to Apply)

Application Deadline

March 31, 2026

How to Apply

Interested and qualified? Go to Nigerian Army (NA) on dcma.vercel.app to apply

Have you benefited from our website in any way? Tell us your story and inspire other students!