109 Authors Vie For 2015 Nigeria Prize For Literature

The race for the 2015 Nigeria Prize for Literature commenced on
Thursday with the handover of entries to the judges.

A total of 109 entries have been received for the 2015 Nigeria Prize
for Literature, sponsored by Nigeria LNG Limited.

Nigerian writers from within and outside the country submitted works
for the prize that will be awarded for Children's Literature this
year.

Considered Africa's most prestigious literary award because of its
uncompromising insistence on excellence and the $100,000 cash prize,
the NLNG sponsored initiative rotates yearly among the four literary
genres of prose fiction, poetry, drama and children's literature.

Authors competing for the award send in their works which are assessed
by a panel of judges, comprising eminent literary scholars, with their
decisions and reviews overseen by an advisory committee of equally
distinguished academics. .

Chairing the jury for this year's edition is Professor Uwemedimo
Enobong Iwoketok of the University of Jos while Professor Charles
Bodunde of the University of Ilorin and Dr. Razinat Mohammed of the
University of Maiduguri are the members.

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

Kimberly Reynolds, a Professor of Children's Literature at Newcastle
University in the United Kingdom, and past President of the
International Research Society for Children's Literature, is this
year's International consultant to the Advisory Board.

The Advisory Board handed the entries to the judges on Thursday at an
event held at Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Submissions are examined and shortlisted based on a number of
considerations including editorial excellence, creativity and plot,
with the aim of selecting a final winner who will then be publicly
announced in October each year, to coincide with the date NLNG shipped
its first liquefied natural gas cargo.

"We have received 109 as submissions by Nigerian authors to compete
for this year's prize in children's literature. I can only wish all
the authors vying for the honour, every success and the best outcome
possible in the exercise," said Kudo Eresia-Eke, NLNG's General
Manager, External Relations.

The last winner of the literature prize in the children's literature
category was Adeleke Adeyemi (Mai Nasara) in 2011, for 'The Missing
Clock' , while Mabel Segun and Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo were
joint winners for the 'Reader's Theatre' and 'My Cousin Sammy' in
2007.

This year's award for children's literature will run concurrently with
the prize for literary criticism, also sponsored by NLNG, and for
which only one entry was received.

Introduced in 2012, the literary criticism prize is a yearly award
with a cash prize of one million naira. Professor Isidore Diala of
the Imo State University won it for the first time last year.