By Sunday Aikulola
Advisory Board of the Nigeria Prize for Literature, sponsored by Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), yesterday announced it had received 252 entries for the 2025 edition.
  
The Literature Prize attracts a monetary award of $100,000, while the Literary Criticism Prize winner will receive $10,000. The board announced the receipt of 37 entries for The Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism.
  
Addressing journalists in Lagos yesterday, NLNG’s General Manager for External Relations and Sustainable Development, Sophia Horsfall, represented by Manager, Corporate Communication and Public Affairs, Anne-Marie Palmer-Ikuku, handed over the entries to the Prize’s Advisory Board, led by the literary icon and past winner, Prof Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo.
  
The entries were further presented to the panel of judges officially. The number of entries surpassed the 2024 figure of 163 and also exceeded the 2021 Prose Fiction cycle, which saw 202 submissions.

Horsfall attributed the high number of entries to “a surge in literary creativity, demonstrating a reinvigorated passion for creative works and a deepened global awareness of Nigerian literature.
  
Adimora-Ezeigbo, who is the chairperson of the Advisory Board, noted the calibre and volume of entries submitted this year would significantly elevate the quality of the competition, adding that the remarkable diversity and depth of literary works would not only make the adjudication process more compelling, but also reaffirm the prize’s unwavering commitment to literary excellence.
  
The Nigeria Prize for Literature rotates yearly across four literary genres: Prose Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Children’s Literature.