No winner for this year’s NLNG Prize for Literature

Against all expectations, no winner has emerged for the 2015 edition of the Nigeria LNG sponsored The Nigeria Prize for Literature.

The Emeritus Professor Ayo Banjo-led Advisory Board for The Nigeria Prize for Literature announced at a ceremony, yesterday (Friday September 25, 2015) in Lagos that there would be no winner for the 2015 edition of the prize because none of the 109 entries received met the levels of literary excellence worthy of Africa’s most prestigious literary prize.

The Advisory Board announced that this decision was reached by the panel of judges for this year’s competition led by Chief Judge Professor Uwemedimo Enobong Iwoketok, a professor of English Language at the University of Jos, after a thorough review of the entries.

Prof. Iwoketok said, “A disturbingly large number of entries were dropped at the initial stage of short-listing because of grave editing and publishing errors.”

According to her, submissions for the prize were examined based on a number of considerations including editorial excellence, creativity and story plot. Other members of the panel of judges are Professor Charles Bodunde of the University of Ilorin, and the University of Maiduguri’s Dr. Razinat Mohammed.

Members of the Advisory Board for the prize are Professor Emeritus Ayo Banjo, Professor Ben Elugbe and Professor Jerry Agada.

The position of the panel of judges was supported by both the international consultant – herself an internationally acclaimed scholar and expert on children’s literature – as well as the Advisory Board.

“The entries deal with some important topical issues, raising challenging questions about the world children growing up in Nigeria today will inherit. It also placed a spotlight on family dynamics and constructions of childhood in ways that encourage readers to think about how children feature in Nigerian culture.

However, they lack the lyricism, vision, and authority to become classics that will be handed down from generation to generation and that have the potential to reach out across cultures,” said Kim Reynolds, professor of children’s literature at Newcastle University, United Kingdom, and the international consultant for this year’s prize.

According to the General Manager, External Relations, Nigeria LNG, Dr. Kudo Eresia-Eke, It will be recalled that the prize was instituted in 2004, to stimulate creativity and reward excellence in writing and would therefore be awarded only for excellence.

Although, there is no winner this year, NLNG in its determination to promote excellence, would invest the prize money which would have been won, back into the process for a creative writing workshop for Nigerian writers of children’s literature.

Further, for the benefit of those who may not be physically at the workshop, and indeed for the good of upcoming writers, the proceedings would be collated, published for reference and guidance”.

The Nigeria Prize for Literature has since 2004 rewarded eminent writers such as Gabriel Okara (cowinner, 2005, poetry), Professor Ezenwa Ohaeto (co-win ner, 2005, poetry); Ahmed Yerima (2006, drama) for his classic, Hard Ground; Mabel Segun (co-winner, 2007, children’s literature) for her collection of short plays Reader’s Theatre; Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo (co-winner, 2007, children’s literature) with her book, My Cousin Sammy; Kaine Agary (2008, prose); Esiaba Irobi (2010, drama) who clinched the prize posthumously with his book Cemetery Road; Adeleke Adeyemi (2011, children’s literature) with his book The Missing Clock; Chika Unigwe (2012, prose), with her novel, On Black Sister’s Street; Tade Ipadeola (2013, Poetry) with his collection of poems, Sahara Testaments and Sam Ukala (2014, drama) with Iredi War. In 2004 and 2009, there were no winners.

The Nigeria Prize for Literature rotates yearly amongst four literary genres: prose fiction, poetry, drama and children’s literature.

Nigeria LNG Limited remains committed to responsible corporate citizenship and The Nigeria Prize for Literature is one of its numerous contributions towards helping to build a better Nigeria,” Eresia-Eke said.