By Prisca Sam-Duru

AS it was in  2004 and 2009 when no winner emerged for the Nigeria Prize for Literature, in the prose and poetry respectively, so it was last Friday, when sponsors of the Prize; Nigeria LNG, declared no winner for this year’s competition. At the Sheraton Hotel, Lagos, venue for the world press conference where the announcement was made, the mood of guests who waited in great expectation for who would be crowned as the next laureate in children’s literature, turned sour when no winner emerged.

Matters were made worse as no long list or the usual short list of three were announced rather, the process of screening jumped from call for entries, to a disappointing declaration of no winner which also came at an unusual date as against the customary 9th of October. That left writers present, wondering if Nigerians are that bad in children’s literature.

As it stands, the prize, with the cash worth of $100,000, equivalent to N15million would be channelled into capacity building workshop on children’s literature.

Children’sliterature

Chairman, Advisory Board for the Nigeria Prize for Literature,  Emeritus Professor Ayo Banjo who announced that “There would be no winner for the 2015 edition of the prize”, said it was due to the fact that “None of the 109 entries received met the levels of literary excellence worthy of Africa’s most prestigious literary prize.”

His words: “Language plays a major role in literary production. Creative writers are normally expected to pay special attention to the use of language and aesthetics. The Prize demands stylistic excellence as manifested through an original and authoritative voice, narrative coherence and technically accurate writing.

Unfortunately, the entries this year fall short of this expectation as each book was found to manifest incompetence in the use of language. Many of them showed very little or no evidence of good editing.”

The Prof Banjo-led Advisory Board which has other members such as Profs Ben Elugbe and Jerry Agada, further stated that the decision was reached by the panel of judges led by Uwemedimo Enobong Iwoketok, a professor of English Language at the University of Jos, with Prof Charles Bodunde of the University of Ilorin, and the University of Maiduguri’s Dr. Razinat Mohammed, as members of the panel for this year’s competition,  after a thorough review of the entries.

He blamed writers for their poor understanding of what children’s literature is all about. “A distinction needs to be made between children’s literature and literature about children. Children’ literature should be a creative work of aesthetics and social values for childre.”, Banjo said.
According to Iwoketok, “This year, 109 entries were received. Eighty-nine (89) entries did not meet the preliminary criteria for assessment. This number represents 81.6% of the total number of entries received for 2015. The percentage by any standard is worrying, especially as there is a paucity of literature for children.”

“The entries were judged based on editorial excellence, creativity and story plot. Children’s literature it was noted, is yet to be fully addressed and explored, as Iwoketok urged government, writers and educationists to take proactive steps in ensuring the genre is developed. According to Prof. Iwoketok, “A disturbingly large number of entries were dropped at the initial stage of short-listing because of grave editing and publishing errors.

Corroborating the stance of the panel of judges, the international consultant for this year, Kim Reynolds, professor of children’s literature at Newcastle University, United Kingdom, who herself is an internationally acclaimed scholar and expert on children’s literature,  advised writers in the genre to pay attention to visual creativity along with understanding the minds of the children.

Her words, “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 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.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Hinting on the next line of action, Dr. Kudo Eresia-Eke, General Manager, External Relations, Nigeria LNG. “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.”