<p>August came like a thief — </p><p>Not in the night, but in broad daylight, </p><p>Dragging hunger, bills, and silence by the neck.</p><p><br/></p><p>She was a university student — </p><p>Not just chasing a degree, </p><p>But fighting a battle no one could see. </p><p>Her department demanded too much — </p><p>Too many dues, too many projects, </p><p>Too many deadlines attached to price tags.</p><p><br/></p><p>They called it education.</p><p>But nobody taught her how to survive it.</p><p><br/></p><p>She looked at her hands — not lazy hands. </p><p>Hands that had written assignments, </p><p>Scrubbed pots, sketched project models, </p><p>And held onto hope like it was oxygen. </p><p>But still… always empty.</p><p><br/></p><p>Money came and disappeared like a ghost. </p><p>She paid today, they asked for more tomorrow. </p><p>As if her wallet was a river with no end.</p><p><br/></p><p>Her roommates talked about shopping, </p><p>Restocking foodstuff, getting new shoes. </p><p>She smiled. </p><p>But her bag was empty, </p><p>Her gas was finished, </p><p>And the last pack of noodles sat like treasure in her cupboard.</p><p><br/></p><p>Meals turned into guesses.</p><p><br/></p><p>Breakfast skipped. </p><p>Lunch ignored. </p><p>Dinner replaced with sleep and stomach growls.</p><p><br/></p><p>Her father, her backbone, </p><p>Now bent under the weight of life. </p><p>Mom was sick operation pending. </p><p>And salary? Nowhere to be found. </p><p>The place he worked hadn’t paid in months.</p><p><br/></p><p>He sent ₦2,000 </p><p>For something worth ₦50,000. </p><p>He apologized. </p><p>She cried… not because it wasn’t enough, </p><p>But because he still tried.</p><p><br/></p><p>And in that moment, </p><p>She knew love wasn’t loud — </p><p>Sometimes, it was sacrifice wearing shame.</p><p><br/></p><p>The school didn’t stop. </p><p>Fees. SWEP. Projects. Printing. </p><p>As though stress wasn’t enough punishment.</p><p><br/></p><p>She started shrinking </p><p>Not physically, </p><p>But emotionally. </p><p>She didn’t laugh much. </p><p>Didn’t pick calls. </p><p>Didn’t join gist. </p><p>Because what could she say? </p><p>“I can’t eat?” </p><p>“I’m tired?” </p><p>“I’m drowning?”</p><p><br/></p><p>Instead, she wore silence like a sweater. </p><p>Heavy. Itched. But it covered enough.</p><p><br/></p><p>The mirror stopped showing a bright student. </p><p>It showed a quiet fighter. </p><p>Eyes tired. </p><p>Spirit thin. </p><p>Still… moving.</p><p><br/></p><p>She read under candlelight. </p><p>Bathed from fetched buckets. </p><p>Stretched ₦500 for days.</p><p><br/></p><p>But she never stopped. </p><p>She still went to class. </p><p>Still showed up. </p><p>Still hoped.</p><p><br/></p><p>Because deep down, </p><p>There was a flicker — </p><p>That maybe September would smile.</p><p><br/></p><p>They didn’t see her skip meals. </p><p>Didn’t hear her whispers to God. </p><p>Didn’t notice when she stopped humming to music. </p><p>Didn’t know she was surviving on empty.</p><p><br/></p><p>But she was. </p><p>And that was enough.</p><p><br/></p><p>Because this pain? </p><p>It wasn’t her end. </p><p>It was her fire. </p><p>And one day, she’d write about it. </p><p>Not as a tragedy </p><p>But as a testimony.</p>
At the end of the month, we give out prizes in 3 categories: Best Content, Top Engagers and
Most Engaged Content.
Best Content
We give out cash prizes to 7 people with the best insights in the past month. The 7 winners are picked
by an in-house selection process.
The winners are NOT picked from the leaderboards/rankings, we choose winners based on the quality, originality
and insightfulness of their content.
Top Engagers
For the Top Engagers Track, we award the top 3 people who engage the most with other user's content via
comments.
The winners are picked using the "Monthly Engagers" tab on the rankings page.
Most Engaged Content
The Most Engaged Content recognizes users whose content received the most engagement during the month.
We pick the top 3.
The winners are picked using the "Monthly Contributors" tab on the rankings page.
Here are a few other things to know for the Best Content track
1
Quality over Quantity — You stand a higher chance of winning by publishing a few really good insights across the entire month,
rather than a lot of low-quality, spammy posts.
2
Share original, authentic, and engaging content that clearly reflects your voice, thoughts, and opinions.
3
Avoid using AI to generate content—use it instead to correct grammar, improve flow, enhance structure, and boost clarity.
4
Explore audio content—high-quality audio insights can significantly boost your chances of standing out.
5
Use eye-catching cover images—if your content doesn't attract attention, it's less likely to be read or engaged with.
6
Share your content in your social circles to build engagement around it.
Contributor Rankings
The Contributor Rankings shows the Top 20 Contributors on TwoCents a monthly and all-time basis.
The all-time ranking is based on the Contributor Score, which is a measure of all the engagement and exposure a contributor's content receives.
The monthly score sums the score on all your insights in the past 30 days. The monthly and all-time scores are calcuated DIFFERENTLY.
This page also shows the top engagers on TwoCents — these are community members that have engaged the most with other user's content.
Contributor Score
Here is a list of metrics that are used to calcuate your contributor score, arranged from
the metric with the highest weighting, to the one with the lowest weighting.
4
Comments (excluding replies)
5
Upvotes
6
Views
1
Number of insights published
2
Subscriptions received
3
Tips received
Below is a list of badges on TwoCents and their designations.
Comments