Jude Idada’s Boom Boom has won the Nigeria Prize for Literature, sponsored by Nigeria LNG Limited, for the 2019 cycle on Children’s Literature.
Boom Boom beat Mysteries at Ebenezer’s Lodge by Dunni Olatunde and The Great Walls of Benin by O.T. Begho the other two in the shortlist to emerge winner.
The book had competed against 173 books submitted for the competition in March 2019.
The announcement was made at NLNG’s 20-30 Anniversary Ball and Award Night in Abuja by Professor Emeritus Ayo Banjo, Chairman of the Advisory Board. The event commemorates NLNG’s 30 years anniversary of incorporation, 20 years of safe and reliable production and delivery of LNG from its six-train plant on Bonny Island and 15 years of sponsoring the Nigeria Prize for Literature.
Professor Meihong Wang and Dr. Matthew Aneke were also awarded $100,000 as joint-winners of Nigeria Prize for Science for the Year 2019. Wang and Aneke were announced as winners in September 2019 by the prize’s Advisory Board for their work on Carbon Capture, Carbon Utilization, and Biomass Gasification and Energy Storage for Power Generation.
Speaking during his welcome address, Tony Attah, NLNG’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, said the management and staff of NLNG, inspired by the Company’s vision of being a global LNG company, maintained international best practices in operations and safely and reliably delivered LNG cargoes around the world without harm to humans or the environment to earn a prominent place in the global market.
He said that the company was also celebrating 15 years of successful administration of the Science and Literature prizes, saying “these past years has been an arduous journey but most definitely very fulfilling for us and I believe for the country as well. I say so unequivocally because thanks to the prizes, our nation now boasts of scientific breakthroughs and famous works on Poetry, Prose, Drama and Children’s Literature that have earned the prizes a reputation as the most prestigious prizes in sub-Saharan Africa.”