ANA Prize entries close May 28, deadline for Chinua Achebe Prize is June 12

Entries for the second Chinua Achebe Prize for Nigerian Fiction will close on June 12, 2022. Obinna Udenwe, with his Colours of Hatred, won the inaugural prize at a ceremony, held in Abuja, on Saturday, November 6, 2021.

Achebe was the inaugural president of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), a non-profit organisation to promotes Nigerian literature when it was founded in 1981.

For many years, this was the only organisation that brought many writers together in Nigeria, especially in the dark period of the 1980s.

According to ANA General Secretary, Maik Ortserga, the Literature Prize is awarded to Nigerian novelists who publish in the English Language.

He disclosed that the Anambra State government launched the prize in July 2021 to mark the 40th anniversary of the association.

He said a cash prize of N1 million would be given to the winning entry, adding that the application is open to only books published between 2021 and 2022; “unpublished work are not eligible; only novels are eligible; one novel per author will be considered in any one year and six copies of the work are required.”

He said: “Applications are expected to contain six original published copies of the work including a letter from the publisher and would be sent to The General Secretary, ANA KM 2, Mamman Vatsa Writers’ Village, Mpape, Abuja.”

Meanwhile, the closing date for this year’s ANA Prizes is May 28, 2022, and shortlisted works will be announced in September. The prizes include, ANA Prize for Poetry (Published & Unpublished) – N100,000, ANA Prize for Prose Fiction (published & unpublished) – N100,000, ANA Prize for Drama (published & unpublished) – N100,000, ANA Prize for Children’s Literature – 7-13 years age range (published works only & open to all categories of authors) – N100, 0000; ANA/ViviSam Prize for Children’s Poetry – 7-15 years age range (published works only & open to all categories of authors) – N100, 0000; ANA/Abubakar Gimba Prize For Fiction (Short Stories collection – published) – N200,000; ANA/Maria Ajima Prize for Literary Criticism (focus on criticism of emergent Nigerian literature) – N100, 000 and ANA/Jerry Agada Prize for Idoma Language Literature (published & unpublished) – N150,000.

The association said that it would not take responsibility for delay in postal service for late arrival of entry nor claim registered parcels in cases where it has to pay for such entries or parcels.

Also, the association has made a call for submission for the 2022 edition of its yearly review, ANA Review. published yearly by the association is a journal that seeks to assess the pulse of contemporary Nigerian and African literature and critical discourse in the field.

This would be the 10th volume of ANA Review.

According to a statement signed by ANA General Secretary, all submissions for the 2022 edition of ANA Review should be directed to the Association’s Editorial Board headed by the General Secretary. Submissions are expected in the following genres: Poetry (not more than six poems per submission), Prose (short stories or fiction excerpts must be under 4,000 words), Essays (academic and literary essays on subjects related to literature are welcome; must be under 5,000 words), and Drama (skits only, under 3,000 words).

All submissions should be sent as MS Word attachments via email to info.ananigeria@yahoo.com or maikortserga@gmail.com, bearing details such as: name, genre, contact address, telephone and short bio-data of the writer, on the first page.

All submissions for ANA Review close July 30, 2022.