Nigeria LNG Limited has launched the Nigeria Prize for Creative Arts, a $20,000 award aimed at young Nigerian documentary filmmakers. The new prize replaces the company’s long-standing literary criticism category under the Nigeria Prize for Literature, signaling a move from text to screen in its cultural sponsorship portfolio.
The inaugural edition, set for 2026, centers on the theme “Identity,” inviting short, non-fiction films that explore how Nigerians understand themselves through culture, heritage, and experience. The contest is open to Nigerian nationals aged eighteen to thirty-five, for works completed between April 2024 and April 2026.
The prize is overseen by an advisory board chaired by Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, a veteran writer and academic alongside Professors Olu Obafemi and Ahmed Yerima. Emmy-winning filmmaker Joel Kachi Benson serves as technical advisor, while the judging panel, led by actor and director Sam Dede, includes Adeola Aderonke and George Ugwuja.
The company’s decision to dissolve the literary criticism prize and introduce one for film has drawn mixed reactions. Supporters call it a natural evolution in a digital era, where visual storytelling increasingly defines culture. But others view it as a retreat from the intellectual rigor that distinguished the older category. One commenter summed up the unease:
“You scrapped the Prize for Literary Criticism to make room for the Prize for Creative Arts. Maybe no one has told you yet, but you’re losing it. And the stage didn’t get bigger. It’s got messy.”
That skepticism isn’t without context. Documentary filmmaking in Nigeria, while growing in global recognition, remains underfunded and technically demanding. The field has produced amazing films such as Joel Benson’s Daughters of Chibok, which won an Emmy in 2019—but opportunities remain scarce.
Still, the thematic choice of “Identity” feels apt. It invites reflection on who gets to speak for Nigeria, how stories are told, and what images define a nation of more than two hundred million people. In a media landscape saturated with exportable entertainment, a focus on personal, collective identity could restore depth to storytelling.
For now, the Nigeria Prize for Creative Arts stands as a symbol of transition: a nod to a generation that tells its stories through film, and a reminder that the medium may be changing, but the need to define who we are remains the same.
Applications open in February 2026.
Bakare Oluwatobiloba
I write to educate, motivate and define history with literature. Just being me!
