I don’t want to focus on my prize money – Jude Idada

Jude Idada, the 2019 winner of the Nigeria Prize for Literature has said he does not want to focus on his prize money. He said this recently in an interview with Bookshelf. “Money itself can be a stumbling block. It could be a limitation. For me, it’s just a means to an end, it’s not […]

Jude Idada, the 2019 winner of the Nigeria Prize for Literature has said he does not want to focus on his prize money.

He said this recently in an interview with Bookshelf. “Money itself can be a stumbling block. It could be a limitation. For me, it’s just a means to an end, it’s not the end in itself. I am happy I won the NLNG literature prize. I am glad I had a platform to push my work and to get to places it didn’t get to before. My name somehow, not because of vain glory, but my name somehow resonates where it is supposed to resonate,” he said.

Idada was announced winner of the Nigeria Prize for Literature last week Friday in a ceremony at Abuja. He won in this year’s Children’s Literature category for his book ‘Boom Boom’, about Osaik, an eight-year-old boy whose world is thrown into disarray when his mother dies from a debilitating disease.

The Nigerian Prize for Literature is an annual prize worth $100,00 that rotates around children’s literature, prose, poetry and drama.

This year’s panel of judges chaired by poet, editor, and University of Ibadan’s Prof. Obododinma Oha, included Prof. Asabe Usman Kabir from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, and Dr. Patrick Okolo of University of Lagos.

The Advisory Board for The Nigeria Prize for Literature had in July announced the shortlist of 11 drawn from 173 books and in September Idada’s ‘Boom Boom’, Dunni Olatunde’s ‘Mystery at Ebenezer Lodge’ and O.T. Begho’s ‘The Great Walls of Benin’ made it to the final shortlist.

The prize, sponsored by Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas company (NLNG), was started in 2004 to honour Nigerian authors. Last year’s winner in the drama category was Soji Cole for his book, ‘Embers’.