The 2019 Nigeria Prize for Literature, which focuses on Children’s Literature, has received a 59% increase as compared to number of entries received in 2015, when the genre was last up for competition.
One hundred and seventy-three (173) entries have been submitted to the Nigeria Prize for Literature sponsored by Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG).
The company also received 10 entries for the Literary Criticism Prize. The Literature prize, which is now in its 15th year, has a cash prize of $100, 000 while the Literary Criticism Prize has a prize money of N1 million.
The number of entries was announced during the handover of the entries to the Advisory Board of the prize in Lagos. This, according to the Advisory Board chairman, Prof Emeritus Ayo Banjo, said signified the beginning of the judging process which will culminate in the announcement of the winner.
During the handover, Prof Banjo recalled it was exactly 15 years after the first handover event was held. He stated that at the start of this year’s cycle, the board was a bit jittery over the prize not being awarded in 2015 and writers being discouraged to send in their entries. “When the call for entries was made, entries trickled in at the beginning but toward the deadline, it picked up and crossed the 100 mark. Prof Banjo said further that the board is hopeful that the numeric strength of the entries will be matched by strength in quality of the submissions
“The prizes have raised the creativity in the country, whether you are writing poetry or trying to solve the problem of electricity in the country. NLNG is contributing to the emergence of original thinkers and highly creative people in the society. It has managed to do that in the space of 15 years.”
While handing over the entries to the Advisory Board, NLNG’s Manager, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, Andy Odeh, said “as we deliver these 173 books for your vetting, we eagerly look forward to the discovery of yet another literary gem that will open up possibilities for millions of children not only in Nigeria, but all over the Africa”.
“We can confidently say that the Nigeria Prize for Literature has brought some previously unknown Nigerian writers to public attention. Our generation and those after us are becoming familiar with not just legends like Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Gabriel Okara, Elechi Amadi, and Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, Mabel Segun and other writers of longstanding acclaim that, perhaps, some of us had the opportunity of reading as children, but also a new cadre of writers like Kaine Agary, Adeleke Adeyemi, Tade Ipadeola, Ikeogu Oke, Soji Cole and others,” he added.
The entries were immediately handed over to the panel of judges led by Prof Obododinma Oha, a professor of Cultural Semiotics and Stylistics in the Department of English, University of Ibadan.
The entries were immediately handed over to the panel of judges led by Professor Obododinma Oha. Professor Oha is a professor of Cultural Semiotics and Stylistics in the Department of English, University of Ibadan with great interest in technology and language. He currently teaches in the Department of English and Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, now a unit of the Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies, where he teaches Disaster Semiotics.
Other members of the panel include Professor Asabe Usman Kabir and Dr. Patrick Okolo. Professor Kabir is a professor of Oral and African Literature at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto. Dr. Oloko, a Senior lecturer at the University of Lagos Nigeria, specialises in African postcolonial literature, gender and cultural studies.
While receiving the entries, Professor Oha said “we have been saddled with a big responsibility and we will discharge our assignment credibly.”
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