WINNER of the Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism, Dr Sakiru Adebayo has described his feat as the result of hard work and patent attention to scholarship.
Adebayo was adjudged the best of the 10 finalists in the annual Prize as endowed by the Nigeria LNG, and was formally conferred with the award on Friday, October 14 at the Award Gala Nite held at the Banquet Hall of Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island Lagos.
The English graduate of the University of Ibadan, currently Assistant Professor at University of British Columbia, took home the N2million prize.
Chairman of the NPL Advisory Board, Professor Akachi Ezeigbo, disclosed that 87 critics submitted entries with three essays each, though she said the jury discovered that most of the contestants did not adhere to guidelines.
The final best 10 were, however, examined for the prize, and each of them had been published in reputable journals, as stipulated by the guidelines.
The Prize criteria can be fund at: https://www.nigerialng.com/csr/Pages/The-Literary-Criticism-Prize.aspx?fbclid=IwAR39dJnw59mZFWM7waxZnszJACf7i5hYVO-vg1duqoXv9RKvzoz6pZEOTDw
An indigene of Ijebu Igbo and Alumni of Molusi College in ijebu igbo 03/09 Sets, where he was head prefect in 2009, Adebayo, in his winner’s speech, said: “I’m very grateful to the judges for considering my entry worthy of the Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism”.
He dedicated the award to his Principal at Molusi College, Ijebu Igbo, Ogun State, who, according to him, introduced him to criticism.
On his Facebook page, Adebayo also wrote,
“LAST week, I breezed in and out of Nigeria to receive the Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism. This award means a lot to me for so many reasons, the first being that it is a recognition by my home country, a recognition of the papers I wrote on Nigerian literature. Therefore, it was very satisfying to hear professor Akachi Ezeigbo (a prominent Nigerian professor who handed the award to me) describe the ways in which my papers “illuminate many aspects of Nigeria’s postcoloniality”. It is indeed a great feeling to be taken seriously as a scholar, especially by the community you write about.
“I am certainly elated that this award has, in the last 48 hours, given an unprecedented amount of visibility to my works. The award reminds me of how far I have come, and how long I still have to go. It is a motivation for me to keep doing what I know how to do best.
“I appreciate the Nigerian LNG for their generosity, and the panel of judges for choosing my work out of all the 87 submissions for this award. I congratulate all the other winners of the night (my STEM colleagues who won the Nigeria Prize for Science, and Romeo Origun who won the poetry prize). Finally, I appreciate my friends, colleagues, teachers, and mentors all over the world who reached out to me and celebrated my achievement. I am humbled and at the same time gratified by these acknowledgements and showers of praises by all of you.
PS: For those who have been asking, I am posting the links to the three papers that got me the award in the comment section.
