Alert! Africa’s richest poetry prize, the $50 000 NLNG Literature Prize, which is awarded annually at a “Grand Awards Night” in Nigeria, was given to… precisely none of the nine shortlisted poets at the banquet held on Saturday in Abuja. Not one of the collections (see first blockquoted section below) was deemed good enough by the judges to merit the gong.
The prize, sponsored by Liquefied Natural Gas of Nigeria, was not given out for the second time in its history, the first being in 2004, its inaugural year. The award is rotated among four genres – fiction, poetry, drama, and children’s literature – meaning the poets will have to wait until 2013 to try and prove their prowess with the pen again.
Nigerian news website 234Next.com tried to remain chipper about the turn of events, pointing out that the fiasco “wasn’t a total loss for literature… as Chima Ibeneche, Managing Director, the NLNG, stated that the prize money of $50,000 will be given to the Nigerian Academy of Letters”:
There were gasps of shock and surprise from people inside the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, venue of the ceremony, as Ayo Banjo, spokesperson for the panel of judges for the literature prize, declared that none of the works merits the award.
Nine works of poetry had earlier been announced for the prize. ‘Litany’ by Omo Uwaifo, ‘Love Apart’ by Hyginus Ekwuazi, ‘Songs of Odamolugbe’ by Ademola Dasylva, ‘Eaters of the Living’ by Musa Idris Okpanachi and ‘From a Poem to its Creator’ by Diego Okenyodo were some of the nominated works.
The others were Nengi Ilagha’s ‘January Gestures’, G’Ebinyo Ogbowei’s ‘Song of a Dying River’, Ahmed Maiwada’s ‘Fossils’ and ‘A Memory of Rivers’ by Lindsay Barrett.
But other reports were less sanguine, and some had downright sinister undertones, with talk of “heavily armed security operatives” keeping both journalists and even some of the shortlistees out of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, where the event was taking place:
The National Secretary General of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Mr Denja Abdullahi told Sunday Trust last night that the decision of the company was not constructive, and dismissed their view as unfair. Earlier, our reporter, who was at the event, was denied access to the venue by heavily armed security operatives. “They are deliberately trying to bring down Nigerian literature. They are simply rubbishing our works because of their lack of interest in indigenous literature. We are going to distance ourselves from their fraudulent activities,” the ANA scribe said.
Something certainly seems less than transparent here – and the judges’ move can hardly be said to reflect well on the state of literary affairs in our neighbour to the north. It’s not known which genre is up for consideration next year, but if I was a shortlistee for the 2010 edition of the award, I wouldn’t hold my breath!
No official statement has been forthcoming from LNG Nigeria – but we’ll post it here if and when it materializes.
Photo courtesy 234Next.com
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October 12th, 2009 @09:33 #
Ouch. If you don't want to award the prize, fine, but call off the banquet. This just seems cruel and humiliating to the shortlistees.
October 12th, 2009 @09:45 #
The lit prize is awarded in tandem with a science prize - which was actually given on the night. Probably why they didn't cancel. Still, imagine being a shortlistee and being turned away from a literary function by a heavy with a gun!
October 12th, 2009 @09:46 #
Surely it's a basic premise of the nominating process that each of the shortlistees is at least potentially good enough to win the prize? After that, it should just be a matter of deciding who is the best among peers.
I don't believe it's a conspiracy to bring down Nigerian literature, but it may well have something to do with that 50 large in prize money.
October 12th, 2009 @09:52 #
"Being turned away from a literary function by a heavy with a gun"? Man, I wish. I could dine out on that story for months! That's lit cred right there.
No, I just get turned away from The Book Lounge when I arrive all of 15 minutes late, by a grumpy man who selfishly insisted on abiding by the laws of physics and not compressing his atoms to let me squeeze in to an already sardined room.
October 12th, 2009 @09:58 #
I also think it's a matter of cherchez le bucks. You can just see it: a hotel room with Mr Big Gas and his bodyguards: "What do you mean, I'm giving 50K to a poet? No effing way! I don't care how many shortlistees there are. I don't care if they win the effing Nobel. I am not dropping a truckload of cash on someone who thinks there are fairies at the bottom of the garden. I mean, how do you buy a poet? I'm not wasting good money on someone who can only offer us rhyming couplets." etc.
October 12th, 2009 @11:27 #
It's a disturbing tale, however you look at it. Reminds me of the Willesden Herald bumparumpus.
October 14th, 2009 @18:51 #
A Igoni Barrett (@FCoRT) writes from Lagos on the fiasco:
http://bit.ly/DujtG