By Damiete Braide
The Advisory Boards for The Nigeria Prize for Science, The Nigeria Prize for Literature and The Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism, sponsored by Nigeria LNG (NLNG) Limited, have published the Call for Entries for the 2023 edition of the prizes, flagging off this year’s competitions.
The Science and Literature prizes, which are now in their 19th year, each come with a cash prize of $100, 000 while the Prize for Literary Criticism has prize money of $10,000.
The Science Prize, which recognises outstanding scientific achievements by Nigerians and non-Nigerians, will focus on Innovation for Enhancement of Healthcare Therapy this year.
The Literature Prize, on the other hand, will focus on Drama. The prize, which honours the author of the best book by a Nigerian, rotates among four literary genres, namely Prose Fiction, Poetry, Drama and Children’s Literature. The Literary Criticism Prize, which also aims to promote Nigerian Literature, will receive entries on works in literary criticism of Nigerian Literature, especially critical essays on new writings in Nigerian Literature.
The Call for Entries for the Literature prize and Literary Criticism will close on 31st March 2023 while the window for the science prize will close on 30th April 2023.
Professor Ameh Dennis Akoh will chair the panel of judges for this year’s Literature and the Literary Criticism competition. Professor Akoh is a Professor of Drama and Critical Theory at the Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ebonyi State. He has over 50 publications in refereed local and international journals and books. He is the former Editor of the Nigerian Journal of Indigenous Knowledge and Development, Nigerian Theatre Journal (NTJ), Co-editor of African Nebula and the UNIOSUN College of Humanities Monograph Series (2009-2016).
Other panel members include Professor Osita Catherine Ezenwanebe and Dr. Rasheedah Liman. Professor Ezenwanebe is a professor of Creative Arts, the University of Lagos. She has written and produced several full-length plays. Dr. Liman is a Senior lecturer at the Department of Theatre and Performing Arts, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, Kaduna State.
The Advisory Board also announced Professor Victor K. Yankah from the Department of Theatre and Film Studies, the University of Cape Coast, Ghana as the International Consultant.
The winners of the Nigeria Prize for Literature and the Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism, if any, will be announced at an award ceremony in October 2023 to commemorate the anniversary of the first LNG export from the NLNG’s Plant on October 9, 1999. The Science Prize winner will be revealed earlier in the year.
The Nigeria Prize for Literature and The Nigeria Prize for Science are part of Nigeria LNG’s contribution towards helping to build a better Nigeria.
In 2006, Dr. Ahmed Yerima won the prize with his drama, Hard Ground, in 2010 while the late Esiaba Iroba’s Cementary Road won the prize in 2010. For 2014, the prize was won by Prof Sam Ukala and in 2018, Soji Cole won his work entitled Embers.
Prof Ahmed Yerima’s stunning book on the militancy situation in The Niger Delta entitled Hard Ground beat other drama books to win the Nigeria Prize for Literature.
Yerima, a respected Nigerian academic, dramatist and theatre director, was at the time, the Director of The National Troupe, Lagos. The versatile published author of several drama books studied in University College London and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. He is currently a lecturer in The Redeemers University.
The late Esiaba Irobi was a distinguished Nigerian playwright, poet, stage director, actor, literary theorist and scholar. Esiaba Irobi, never really got the full recognition that he eminently deserved until he passed on.
Sam Ukala is a Nigerian playwright, poet, short story writer, actor, theatre director, film producer and academic. Currently, he is a Professor of Theatre Arts and Drama at Delta State University, Abraka. Prof Ukala has taught theatre art in a number of Universities including University of Leeds in The United Kingdom. He propounded the theory of ‘ folkism’ which is the tendency to base literary plays on indigenous history and culture and to compose and perform them in accordance with the aesthetics of African folktale composition and performance.
Ukala is the author of several plays including The log in your eyes, The Slave Wife, Break A Boil, Akpalaland among others. In 2015, Sam Ukala’s Iredi War emerged the winner of the highly coveted The Nigeria Prize for Literature.
Soji Cole a Nigerian academic, playwright and author is the 2018 winner of The Nigeria Prize for Literature with his book, Embers. Soji is a teacher/scholar who strives to “decolonise the structure of learning among students and engage positive reductionism in the processing of information”.
He is also a creative writer, as well as a performance creator. His scholarly and creative works have won various local and international awards. Soji’s research areas are on drama therapy, trauma studies and cross-cultural performance research. His utmost belief is that knowledge is an expanse pool, so he identifies himself as a perpetual learner.