February 7, 2025
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‘We were in excellent company’: Uchechukwu Umezurike and Ndidi Chiazor-Enenmor to Olubunmi Familoni

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  • October 21, 2024
  • 3 min read
‘We were in excellent company’: Uchechukwu Umezurike and Ndidi Chiazor-Enenmor to Olubunmi Familoni

We must keep writing, creating, and fostering our community of writers

By Editor

IN contests of the magnitude of The Nigeria Prize for Literature where the victor takes all, where consolatory token of hard work is still being awaited, it is not always easy for the runners-up to calmly walk into the night empty-handed. Rancour had flared up in time past and others had merely sulked in their disappointment for not wining. But not so Uchechukwu Umezurike and Ndidi Chiazor-Enenmor, the two runners-up in this year’s The Nigeria Prize for Literature for children’s category. Their works – Wish Maker and A Father’s Pride – respectively had gone the whole hog but still fell short of clinching the coveted USD$100,000 prize. But afterwards they showed the spirit of excellent competitors and grace in not winning and went online to congratulate Olubunmi Familoni who eventually won with his book The Road Does Not End.

Umezurike took to his Facebook wall and said:

Congratulations!

I want to say mighty congratulations to Olubunmi Familoni on winning The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2024 with his excellent children’s book The Road Does Not End. Kudos to his publisher, Noirledge & Winepress Publishing too!

I also thank the Advisory Board and The Nigeria Prize for Literature judges, who had the arduous task of selecting the 2024 winner. This is a very challenging task. I have adjudicated prizes in the last five years, and I know how difficult and wrenching it is to choose a winner. Thus, I am grateful and humbled that Wish Maker, published in 2021, could even make it to the shortlist. That it was in such eminent company of writers: Familoni and Ndidi Chiazor-Enenmor.

I appreciate my family for their love and patience. I am nothing without them. I remain grateful to Masobe Books and my publisher, Othuke Ominiabohs for believing in Wish Maker. I also thank Professor Isidore Diala who encouraged me when I doubted my writing ability. I am grateful to Lahoucine Ouzgane for his continued friendship and Emmanuel Onyedi Wingate, who challenged me to write Wish Maker when I first shared the idea with him some years ago.

I appreciate the singular contribution of every writer who has inspired me to take my writing seriously and whose works have opened my eyes to the marvels of literature. Indeed, I have benefitted from a community of generosity.

And thanks to everyone who supported Wish Maker through text messages and phone calls. We must keep writing, creating, and fostering our community of writers.

In the meantime, I salute Nigeria LNG Limited for sustaining the literary prizes for 20 years!

Daalu!

#Nigeriaprize#NigeriaLNG#childrensbooks

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Olubunmi Familoni

ALSO, Ndidi Chiazor-Enenmor waxed biblical while congratulating the winner, Familoni:

Gratitude!

“In every thing give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus” 1Thess.5:18.

I am deeply grateful for every blessing and every opportunity God has given me. My most recent debt of gratitude is for my book, A Father’s Pride, making it to the top three, in this year’s edition of The Nigeria Prize for Literature. I do not take this for granted. From total entries of 163 books down to an initial shortlist of 11, then to three finalists. Indeed, I pat myself on the back.

Thank you to Nigeria LNG for helping to bring Nigerian stories to global platforms. Sustaining The Nigeria Prize for Literature for 20 years is no mean feat. Thanks again and again.

Huge congratulations to Olubunmi Familoni, and massive shout-out to Uche Peter Umez – nwannem di na mba. It was a jolly good ride!

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