Elhillo has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, receiving special mention for the 2016 Pushcart Prize.[11] She was a co-winner of the 2015 Brunel University African Poetry Prize, won the 2016 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets, and has received fellowships and residencies from Cave Canem, The Conversation,[12] and SPACE on Ryder Farm, among others.