The ‘Letters We Never Sent’ February Writing Competition [CLOSED]

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16/03/2026 UPDATE:

THE WINNERS HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED HERE!! THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN TO EVERYONE WHO SUBMITTED, READ AND ENGAGED WITH THE LETTERS. FOLLOW FOR UPDATES ABOUT THE DEAR DARLING MOVIE THAT INSPIRED THIS COMPETITION

01/03/2026 UPDATE:

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED. WE ARE GOING THROUGH ALL THE SUBMISSIONS THIS WEEK AND THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON THIS PROFILE NEXT WEEK.

My Dear Darlings,

As you may all know, absence is the space in time where longing learns to speak. We are pleased to present to you the #LettersWeNeverSent Writing Competition, an opportunity to submit creative stories and poems meant to wring our hearts, caress our memories and curve into the wonder of relationships that never were.

It is a writing competition hosted on Muwado, in partnership with the upcoming Ugandan short film Dear Darling by filmmaker Victor Mugabe. Through this competition, we seek to create a creative space for storytellers to explore themes of memory, grief, resilience, and emotional honesty through short prose and poetry.

Dear Darling is a short musical drama exploring the internal dialogue between despair and the will to live. Archie, the protagonist, faces death with a dark cynicism that would rival the greats. His world has collapsed and so has his will for existence. A stance that stays unshaken until Darling, a figment of his imagination and ex-girlfriend raptures the status quo. The film uses spoken word, rhythm, and storytelling to address mental health through song and cultural expression.

Through your stories, we would love to have honest conversations about mental health, the bliss of romance, the naivety of young love and the beauty in sharing oneself with another.

How to Participate:

Over the course of 25 days (3rd February 2026 to 28th February 2026), participants will submit a 500 to 1,000-word short piece or poem inspired by the prompt: “A letter that was never sent”

Entries will be published on Muwado and MAY be featured in live readings, promotional content, and outreach activities linked to Dear Darling’s release with the storyteller’s permission.

Apart from the one-post-a-day submission condition on Muwado, there is no limit to the number of submissions one can make to the writing competition.

The creators of the top-performing pieces will be rewarded with a total of UGX 300,000.

Winners:

There shall be two categories of top winners selected. They shall be selected using scoring as shown below:

Best Letter Never Sent (UGX 150,000)

• Quality of the submission (typos, grammar, creativity) 
• Input from our panel of judges and sponsoring partners

People’s Choice Never Sender (UGX 150,000)

• Number of views, comments and shares for all posts submitted for the competition
• Quality of the submissions (typos, grammar, creativity)
• Input our sponsoring partners

How to Submit

1. If you don’t already have one, create a free Muwado account to submit your contributions. If you hit a glitch, email your submission to [email protected], and we’ll upload it for you. You can always edit your posts after via your profile.

2. Compose and upload your submission. The submission can be in the form of:

• A blog post, or a series if the content is too much for one blog post. (Poetry, Fiction, Non-fiction, Interview,
• Podcasts for those who prefer to record their letters (Upload to your favourite podcast platform, or you can record on your phone and email the audio file to [email protected] so we upload it for you)
• Video interviews and documentaries for those that want to take it to another level (Upload them to your preferred video platform and add the link to your Muwado submission)
• Comics and images.

3. Tag and Comment: Add #LettersNeverSent to your tags before publishing so we can know it is part of the challenge. Once it has been published, drop a comment below with the link to it so it can be found by readers. You can read all the entries on this link.

4. Engage and Earn: Share your submission widely to grow your audience. Beyond the prize money, utilise Muwado’s story monetisation tools to track ad revenue from your post views and encourage readers to gift you if they love your work.

How To Be Part of The Story 

This writing competition is also a step toward bringing the short film Dear Darling to life. As we develop the project, we invite readers, storytellers, and supporters to contribute financially toward its production. Contributions may be made through Muwado’s story Monetisation or directly via Mobile Money (0783683618 REF: Dear Darling) as a way of actively supporting independent storytelling.

In appreciation, all contributors will be acknowledged in the film credits as Community Funders, becoming part of the story behind the story. Every contribution, no matter the size, helps transform these shared words and emotions into a finished film.

A word from the storyteller/director of Dear Darling

While writing Dear Darling, I came to a quiet realization: as we drift through life, we inevitably connect with others, we love, we lose, we are hurt, and we are held. In many ways, we live for one another. It is an inescapable truth that shapes our hope, our absence, and our longing.

I am curious to encounter these emotions through voices beyond my own. “The Letters We Never Sent” is a small initiative created to give space to the feelings we often silence; the words we rehearse but never release. It is an invitation to express what has long lived within us, waiting to be heard.

As we begin this little adventure, I wish you all luck and will be hopeful for the change it shall unravel.

– Mugabe Victor

Written by

Mugabe Victor

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