Pure Youth Outreach · Osun State, Nigeria

Investing in young minds.
Building stronger futures.

Raising a generation of moral, godly and purpose-driven youth through education, mentorship and structured capacity building since 2005.

2026 Essay Competition About us
388+
Essay entries received
2
Editions completed
Statewide
Reach across Osun State
MoE
Ministry of Education endorsed

🏆 The 2026 PYO Essay Competition — submissions open 1 October

Theme: The role of young people in global peace. Open to secondary school students across Osun State. Cash prizes up to ₦500,000.

Learn more →
Who we are

A not-for-profit rooted in Osun State since 2005

Pure Youth Outreach began in the Ife/Modakeke area with a simple conviction: every young person has the potential to build a purposeful, productive life, and the right support can make all the difference.

Today, we run programmes that promote critical thinking, self-expression and economic empowerment for secondary school students and young people in Osun State.

Our story →
📝

Essay Competition

Annual competition challenging students to write critically on real issues. Endorsed by the Osun State Ministry of Education.

💡

Empowerment

Supporting economic self-sufficiency for young people through skills, training and community initiatives.

🤝

Charitable support

Providing for young people and families in need within our community through donations and contributions.

PYO Essay Competition 2024 prize-giving — all winners with organisers and oversized cheques
2023–24 Prize-Giving Ceremony · All winners with their awards
PYO Essay Competition 2025 award ceremony — junior secondary winners holding cheques
2024–25 Award Ceremony · Junior Secondary winners
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About us

Our story

How we started

Pure Youth Outreach began in 2005, born out of concern for the state of young people in the Ife/Modakeke area of Osun State, in the aftermath of the 1997–2000 communal crisis. Many students had left school early; among those who stayed, focus and direction were often missing.

The idea to do something about it took shape during a prayer retreat in April 2005. On 19 June 2005, six young people held the organisation's first official meeting and committed themselves to working with youth through schools, churches and community life.

On 19 December 2021, PYO held its formal public launch, marking a new phase of structured growth and wider community engagement. In April 2024, Pure Youth Outreach was formally incorporated in Nigeria as a registered Incorporated Trustee (CAC IT No. 7473066), giving the organisation a permanent legal foundation for work it had been doing for almost two decades.

Our mission

To mentor, educate and equip young people through faith-based teaching, structured capacity building and purposeful programmes that promote moral excellence, resilience and responsible living.

Our vision: To raise a generation of morally grounded, godly and purpose-driven young people equipped to lead responsible and productive lives.

Our work spans education and critical thinking, poverty alleviation, economic empowerment and charitable giving, with the conviction that every young person has inborn potential to grow into a responsible and caring adult when properly guided.

Our flagship initiative is the PYO Essay Competition →

Leadership

Board of Trustees

Pure Youth Outreach is governed by a Board of Trustees registered with the Nigerian Corporate Affairs Commission.

Mrs Oluwatosin Egbetokun
Mrs Oluwatosin Egbetokun
Co-Founder & Chairperson
Dr Abiodun Egbetokun
Dr Abiodun Egbetokun
Co-Founder & Trustee
Mr Akinola Obanisola
Mr Akinola Obanisola
Trustee & Secretary
Prof. Soladoye Asa
Prof. Soladoye Asa
Trustee
Pastor Timothy Unction Olufemi
Pastor Timothy Unction Olufemi
Trustee
Peace Ikujenlola
Peace Ikujenlola
Virtual Executive Assistant & Operations Lead
Governance

How we are governed

Pure Youth Outreach is registered with the Nigerian Corporate Affairs Commission as an Incorporated Trustee (CAC IT No. 7473066, registered 30 April 2024). The Board meets regularly to provide strategic oversight and ensure the organisation remains accountable and compliant with Nigerian regulations governing not-for-profit organisations.

Our activities are also conducted in partnership with the Osun State Ministry of Education, which has endorsed the PYO Essay Competition for two consecutive editions.

Our work

What We Do

Pure Youth Outreach identifies, initiates and sustains programmes that promote the positive development and empowerment of young people in Osun State, Nigeria.

📝

Essay Competition

Our flagship initiative. The annual competition challenges secondary school students across Osun State to think critically and write boldly about issues shaping their lives and communities. Endorsed by the Osun State Ministry of Education and graded by independent expert panels.

Learn more →
🧭

Mentorship

We connect young people with mentors who model what it looks like to grow up with purpose, integrity and direction. Through structured guidance and meaningful relationships, we help young people develop the character and clarity they need to build sustainable futures.

🔨

Economic Empowerment

Financial hardship is one of the biggest barriers young people face. We equip them with practical vocational skills and the mindset for economic self-sufficiency, so that poverty does not become a ceiling on their potential.

🤲

Charitable Support

Through individual donations and community contributions, we provide direct, practical support to young people and families facing hardship within our community, addressing immediate needs while working on longer-term solutions.

Our approach

How we work

We do not launch programmes blindly. Every initiative begins as a carefully scoped pilot designed to test whether our approach actually works before we scale it. We secure institutional buy-in first, build the right partnerships, run the pilot with rigour and only expand once the evidence supports it.

The essay competition is the clearest proof of this. We started with a single local government area in 2024, worked through the process end to end, and then took it to the whole of Osun State the following year. The model is deliberate and repeatable, and we intend to apply the same discipline to every programme we launch.

Our partnerships

Who we work with

Our work is underpinned by relationships with institutions that give it reach, credibility and accountability.

Osun State Ministry of Education

Has formally endorsed the PYO Essay Competition for every edition, ensuring statewide reach across public and private schools.

Local Inspectorate of Education & NAPPS

The Ife East LGA Inspectorate and the local chapter of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools supported our pilot and helped mobilise school participation.

Academic & examining bodies

Our judging panels have drawn from Obafemi Awolowo University and the national WAEC examining body.

Looking ahead

What's next

The essay competition will continue to grow in reach, in prize value and in the quality of the experience we deliver to participants. Alongside it, we are actively building out our mentorship and economic empowerment programmes, bringing the same evidence-based rigour to those areas that we have applied to the competition.

Our goal is for every programme we run to be something young people in Osun State can point to as a genuine opportunity — not a token gesture, but a structured investment in their development.

Our reach

Impact

2
Editions completed
388+
Entries received
334
Essays graded
15+
Schools in first edition
₦3.45m+
In prizes awarded
The competition in pictures

From our ceremonies

2024 prize-giving — all winners with organisers and cheques
2023–24 Prize-Giving · Winners, families and organisers
2025 award ceremony — junior winners with cheques in front of the PYO backdrop
2024–25 Award Ceremony · Junior Secondary winners
Endorsements

Government & institutional support

The PYO Essay Competition has been endorsed by the Osun State Ministry of Education for both editions.

PYO has also worked with the Local Inspectorate of Education (Ife East LGA) and the Ife East LGA chapter of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS).

Each edition has been assessed by an independent panel of subject experts of the highest calibre, drawn from Nigeria's leading academic institutions and national examining bodies.

Media coverage

In the press

Geographic reach

Winners in 2025 came from Ile-Ife, Ede, Osogbo and Oyan, reflecting the competition's statewide reach after expanding from a single LGA pilot in 2024.

In their own words

Media Reel

2023–24 Edition · Overview
Gold Osupala · 1st Place Senior 2023–24
Akinwale Aanuoluwapo · 3rd Place Senior 2023–24
Akinwale Aanuoluwapo · 3rd Place Senior 2023–24
Afolabi Christianah · 4th Place Junior 2023–24
Roland-Akindele Danny Oluwamolade · Joint 1st Place Junior 2024–25
Babalola Mercy · 2nd Place Senior 2024–25
Fatuki Deborah · Awardee Senior 2024–25
Essay Competition · 2026

The PYO Essay Competition

Submissions open 1 October 2026

About the competition

Every year, the PYO Essay Competition invites secondary school students across Osun State to think critically and write boldly about issues shaping their lives, their families and their communities.

Now in its third edition, the competition has grown from a pilot in Ife East Local Government (2024) to a statewide competition across Osun State (2025), and returns in 2026 with a theme of global significance.

The competition is endorsed by the Osun State Ministry of Education and graded by a panel of qualified language examiners.

2026 Theme

"The role of young people in global peace"

Junior: The Role of Young People in Promoting Peace in Their Communities

Senior: Young People as Agents of Peace: Opportunities and Challenges in the 21st Century

📅 Submissions open: 1 October 2026

📅 Submission deadline: 28 February 2027

📅 Results release: 1 April 2027

📅 Prize-giving ceremony: May 2027

Submissions open 1 October 2026
Who can enter

Eligibility

The competition is open to students in JSS 2, JSS 3, SSS 2 and SSS 3 in public and private secondary schools in Osun State. One submission per student. Multiple entries from the same student will be disqualified.

Students compete in one of two categories based on their school level:

Junior

JSS 2 & JSS 3
500 word limit

Senior

SSS 2 & SSS 3
750 word limit

How entries are judged

CriterionWeight
Content25%
Relevance to topic25%
Structure & organisation20%
Language & expression20%
Originality & creativity10%

These criteria and weights are intended as a guide. Final assessment criteria and weightings are at the discretion of the examining panel.

How to enter

Step by step

Write your essay by hand

Dark ink, ruled paper, clear margins on both sides. Include your name, school and contact details on the first page. Stick to the word limit for your category (500 words / 750 words).

Scan your essay

Use a scanning app (Adobe Scan, Microsoft Lens, Google Drive scanner) in grayscale mode. Save as a single PDF. Maximum 8 MB.

Scan your photo ID

School ID card, birth certificate or government-issued ID. Save as PDF or PNG. Maximum 5 MB.

Submit your entry

Enter your details and upload both files here →

Wait for your result

Once assessment is completed, you will be notified via the email you provide of your score and whether you have won any of the prizes.

Prizes

What's at stake

Senior Secondary (SSS)
🥇 Winner₦500,000
🥈 1st Runner-up₦350,000
🥉 2nd Runner-up₦200,000
4th & 5th place₦50,000 each
Junior Secondary (JSS)
🥇 Winner₦350,000
🥈 1st Runner-up₦250,000
🥉 2nd Runner-up₦150,000
4th & 5th place₦50,000 each

Prizes are paid by direct bank transfer to winners.

See past winners → See our impact →
Important rules

Academic integrity

Essays must be entirely the student's own work, written by hand. Entries found to involve AI assistance, teacher assistance or any other form of outside help will be disqualified. Submitting more than once will also result in disqualification.

Submissions open 1 October 2026
Hall of fame

Past Winners

2024–25 Edition — 2nd Edition

Theme: "Navigating hard times: Personal and household strategies for economic survival in Nigeria"

Senior Secondary

"The role of teenagers in their family's economic stability"

PositionNameSchool
1 WinnerEfunwole OyinloluwaKing's Will College, Ile-Ife
2 1st Runner-upBabalola MercyUnique Minds International College, Ile-Ife
3 2nd Runner-upOkojie VictoryUnique Minds International College, Ile-Ife
4 4th (joint)Sogaolu OluwabusolamiRedeemer's University Staff Secondary School, Ede
4 4th (joint)Iseyemi JoshuaVictory Montessori College, Osogbo

Junior Secondary

"My roles as a child in conserving resources in my home during difficult times"

PositionNameSchool
1 Winner (joint)Roland-Akindele Danny OluwamoladeRedeemer's University Staff Secondary School, Ede
1 Winner (joint)Iseyemi EstherVictory Montessori College, Osogbo
3 2nd Runner-upIbitoye EnochOAU International School, Ile-Ife
4 4thOgunlade MichaelUnique Minds International College, Ile-Ife
5 5thOyediwura IsraelVickayor Private School, Ile-Ife

2023–24 Edition — 1st Edition (Pilot)

Theme: "Education na scam: exploring the pros, cons, causes and consequences"

Senior Secondary

"What are the causes and consequences of the perception that 'Education na scam' among Nigerian youths? How can this perception be changed?"

Osupala Gold Samuel — 1st, Senior 2023-24
Adebayo Adunoluwa — 2nd, Senior 2023-24
Akinwale Aanuoluwapo — 3rd, Senior 2023-24
Akinwale Deborah — 4th, Senior 2023-24
Dada Oluwafeyikemi — 5th, Senior 2023-24

Junior Secondary

"What are the pros and cons of thinking that 'Education na scam'?"

Ejiyode Gloria — 1st, Junior 2023-24
Oladipo Adedamola — 2nd, Junior 2023-24
Idris Aliyah — 3rd, Junior 2023-24
Afolabi Christiana — 4th, Junior 2023-24
Opawole Akinloluwa — 5th, Junior 2023-24
About the 2026 competition →
Competition Portal

Enter the 2026 Competition

🗓️

Submissions open 1 October 2026

The submission portal will be available from 1 October 2026. Entries close 28 February 2027. Check back then, or follow us on social media for announcements.

Read competition details →
Get in touch

Contact us

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Pure Youth Outreach

Follow us for insights, announcements and updates.

+ Follow
@pureyouthoutreach

Follow us for insights, announcements and updates.

+ Follow
PYO on YouTube

Watch videos from our programmes and events.

Subscribe
Our details

Get in touch

Pure Youth Outreach
c/o Ogo Oluwa Baptist Church
Mokuro Road, Ile-Ife
Osun State, Nigeria

Email
pyo@egbetokun.com

LinkedIn
linkedin.com/company/pure-youth-organisation

YouTube
youtube.com/@pyo_ng