About Us
About Us
The Nigeria Prizes
Nigeria LNG Limited is the proud sponsor of three of the biggest and most prestigious prizes in Africa for science, literature, and literary criticism: The Nigeria Prize for Science and The Nigeria Prize for Literature, each worth USD100,000 in award money, and The Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism with a N1 million cash reward.
The Nigeria Prize for Literature and The Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism is aimed at bringing Nigerian authors and literary critics to public attention and celebrating literary craftsmanship in the nation. The Nigeria Prize for Science aims at celebrating excellence in scientific breakthroughs and honours scientists from anywhere in the world who help find solutions to a local or ‘Nigerian’ problem as defined and advertised by the Advisory Board for the prize.
The Nigeria Prize for Literature is one of the 10 richest and most prestigious literary prizes in the world.
The Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism complements The Nigeria Prize for Literature by rewarding excellent literary critics of Nigerian literature.
History
In 2003, the Board of Directors of Nigeria LNG Limited approved the proposal by the company’s External Relations Division for reputable prizes for science and literature for Nigerian.
Following this, 14 eggheads in arts and sciences were selected to brainstorm and recommend the process for administering the biggest and most prestigious prizes in Africa and one of the biggest in the world. They recommended a Committee for the administration of each of the Prizes and also a collaboration with The Nigerian Academy of Sciences for Science (NAS) and Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) in the Administration of the prizes. The committee in turn appointed a five-member panel of judges to adjudicate on the entries.
For the Nigeria Prize for Science, members include very distinguished Professors like Emeritus Prof Umaru Shehu; Prof Olaniyan Taylor, Prof Gabriel Ogunmola, Prof Anya O Anya, Prof Mosto Onuora, Prof Njida Gadzama, Prof Olabopo Osuntokun among others.
For the Nigeria Prize for Literature, literary icons like Emeritus Prof Ayo Banjo, Prof Dan Izavbaye, Charles Nnolim, Pheabean Ogundipe, Theo Vincent, Abubakar Rasheed, Tanimu Abubakar, Zaynab Alkali among others.
In 2010, after a series of stakeholders’ forum, there was a reform of the administrative process of the prize where the committees were also replaced with members of the Advisory Board. The Advisory Board for Science was made up of an appointee of NLNG as Chairman while the rest were of the Nigerian Academy of Sciences. Similarly, an Advisory Board replaced the Literature committee of Nigeria Prize for Literature with the appointed Chairman and a representative each of The Nigerian Academy of Letters and The Association of Nigerian Authors.
In 2012, The Nigerian Prize for Literary Criticism was added to the stable. With a cash prize of N1,000,000, the prize was to encourage literary critics who write on Nigerian literary works.
The Advisory Boards for Science and for Literature, made up of reputable and distinguished Nigerians, administer the prizes on behalf of Nigeria LNG Limited. Winners are announced in October to commemorate the first export of LNG cargo by NLNG on October 9, 1999.
Winners of the Nigeria Prize for Science prize are usually announced at a world press conference and rewarded in October during the Nigeria LNG Grand Award Night while the winners of the Nigeria Prize for Literature and The Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism are announced and rewarded during the Grand Award Night, a key national event for rewarding and honouring winners of the Prizes.
Contact Us:
The Secretariat, The Nigeria Prizes,
Brands and Corporate Identity Unit,
Communication and Public Affairs Department,
NLNG Corporate Head Office (CHO)
NLNG Road, Trans Amadi, Port Harcourt.
Tel: +234 8039055000, 8024735000, 8070185000
